Blood Candy
by Shadowynn
Summary: Mia Emerson had tried to keep her distance, really she had. But when The Lost Boys had set their eyes on her, she found she couldn't stay away despite how hard she tried. No matter how much she fought, she would never be able to escape. She was theirs, and she couldn't do a thing to stop it. But then again, maybe she didn't want to. (OCXLostBoys)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I've actually been working on this story for months, but finally decided that I wanted to share it with others as well. It's been a story that's been in and out of my head for a while, so to help put my head to peace, I'm writing it out. I've written on several other sites before, but this is the first that I'm publishing on here. I would love to hear feedback and what you all think about it.**

 **This will be a OC X LostBoys, so a polygamous relationship will be involved.**

 **Also, I do not own The Lost Boys. I only own any original characters that may pop up.**

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Mia's fingers drummed idly along to the beat of the song coming through the car's radio, her face cringing at the sappy lyrics the woman was singing. Mia was a fan of a lot of music, but sappy love songs was not a part of that list.

Thankfully, Mia was saved from the song's terrible lyrics when her younger brother, Sam, spoke his own distaste from the back seat. "Please change the station, Mom."

"Hey! I like this song." Their mother, Lucy, replies from the driver's seat, though a smile danced across her lips. This wasn't the first time through their long car ride that this had happened. Finding a station that appeased both Lucy and her children was nearly impossible.

"Just keep it going." Sam repeated tiredly before Lucy reluctantly reached over to the stereo and turned the knob.

"Oh! What about this?" Lucy excitedly announces as a classical number began to come out of the speakers.

"Mom, my ears are bleeding." Mia giggles before taking control of the stereo herself. Mia turns the knob slowly, checking out each new radio station as her brothers gave her their own input from the back of the car.

"Keep going." Michael groaned from the back as another oldie started to play.

"Wait, wait wait!" Lucy says excitedly causing Mia to stop and look up expectantly at her mother. "This is one from my era!" She chuckles before singing along off-key.

"Keep going!" Michael and Sam yell once again from the back. Mia listens to her brothers, disliking the song just as much as them, and starts searching through stations once more. After skipping through a few she finds one that suits both her and her brothers' taste.

"Now this is music, Mom." Mia chuckles as the sound of Echo and the Bunnymen began to fill the car.

"Whatever you say, Mia." Lucy shakes her head slightly in amusement, but smiles over at her only daughter. Mia returns her mother's smile adding a wink before turning back around to look at the passing scenery.

"We're almost there guys." Lucy instantly brightens up as the car approaches a _Welcome to Santa Carla!_ sign.

As the ocean came into view, Mia leaned out the open window and took a deep breath of the salty air and smiled. Despite everyone else's reluctance to moving away from Phoenix, Mia had been excited to move out of the hot and dreary city and to the coastal town. She could already see herself laying in the sand all day and dancing the night away. Mia's fantasies fell apart, however, as she glanced at the back of the welcome sign and saw the words that had been spray painted there.

 _Murder Capital of the World._

Mia settled back into her seat, slightly unsettled by the words she had just read. As she looked through the rearview window, her blue eyes caught her twin's. By the confused look Michael was giving her, Mia was certain that he had caught the words as well. Mia shrugged her shoulders. After all, it was only some teenagers idea of a prank, right?

"I think you guys are really going to like living in Santa Carla," Mia's eyes broke contact with Michael's as Lucy spoke once more. "The beach is so pretty and just wait until you guys visit the boardwalk! They used to host the best concerts there."

Lucy began to talk more and more of the bustling coastal town she had grew up in as they drove through streets lined with all sorts of interesting people. There were tourists, rockers, druggies, and all sorts of people in between. Mia's lips curled into a smile as she began to realize that moving here was definitely going to be an upgrade to Arizona. It looked like the perfect way to end her last summer of freedom.

"Why don't we stop to eat before getting to Dad's?" Lucy suggested, but gave her children no time to argue before rolling to a stop in front of a local fast food joint. "You guys go check out the sights while I get the food." Lucy tilted her head in the direction of the beach before getting out of the car. Mia stepped out of the car as well and began stretching her arms and legs. It had been a long drive from Phoenix and Mia was looking forward to a night out on town to make up for being in a car all day.

Mia decided to cross the street, eyes checking out all the new sights around her. She could see the boardwalk that her mother had been talking about a little way down the road and her eyes widened in wonder. She could already imagine all the wild and exciting nights she would have this summer.

"Wow, Mom wasn't joking," Mia's eyes glance over as Sam approached her with Nanook by his side. "It's an amusement park by the sea."

"It's beautiful." Mia smiles at Sam before ruffling Nanook's head to which he happily licked in return. "Makes me wonder what sort of wild nights Mom used to have when she was my age." Mia laughs at the slightly disgusted face Sam made at her words and tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Come on, Mom's probably got the food."

Mia and Sam made their way back to the car to find that their mother had indeed gotten their food and was ready to continue on in their journey.

"Sam, go tell those kids to get some food." Lucy says as the two approach her. She hands him a five-dollar bill before pointing to the two teenagers scrounging through the dumpster. Without question Sam takes the money before running over to obey his mother's instructions. Mia smiles as she sees the happy expressions on the their faces. Her mother was one of the kindest and gentlest people she knew and she strove to do the same though it was much harder than her mother made it look.

Mia takes the two cheeseburgers her mother hands her and falls back to where Michael was getting his bike out.

"We've been here for five minutes and you're already trying to impress the ladies." Mia giggles to which her brother promptly flips her off after setting his bike on the ground. "Did you get a glimpse of the boardwalk yet?" She hands Michael one of the cheeseburgers her mother had given her and he takes it greedily "Just imagine all the fun we're going to have this summer."

"Too bad we're flat broke." Michael mumbles back with his mouth full of food.

"Ew, manners, Mikey." Mia cringes to which Michael only glares back at her. "I still have a little saved up that we can use."

A little was a tad of an understatement and both her and Michael knew it. Mia had worked hard the past year to save enough money to travel to Italy with the Travel club at their old school in Phoenix. When the divorce between their parents happened and Mia found out that they were moving to California, she had to kiss those dreams away. She had offered the money to her mom, but she wouldn't take it despite what Mia said. Mia knew the smart thing to do would be to save it, but using a little bit of it for an exciting summer couldn't be too harmful.

"That's your money, Mia." Michael responds in the exact way that she knew he would.

"My money to spend how I want, and I want to spend it on making this the most unforgettable summer of our lives. All of our lives." Mia extends her arms to Michael and the rest of their small family. "So don't try and stop me." She shoots Michael a wink to which he only shakes his head in reply.

"Come on, Mia! It's time to go!"

Mia heads back to the front of the car and dives into the front seat before Sam could take it from her. She munches on the burger her mother had gotten for her as they travel through the rest of town and head out to the outskirts where their grandfather lived. Michael followed behind them on his bike to which Mia only rolled her eyes at. Despite what Michael said, she knew that he was trying to create a lasting impression on the pretty local girls they drove past.

"Well, it sure looks like Grandpa." Mia mumbles as they approached the house that would become her new home. Isolated and surrounded by eccentric pieces of junk, the house looked like an exact replica of her grandfather.

"It looks like it came straight out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Sam blurts out causing their mother to scold him as Mia fought to hide her giggle. Sam was right.

Lucy turned off the car and got out, motioning for the two of them to do the same. Mia obliged to her mother's wishes and followed with Michael catching up beside her.

"Is that Grandpa?" Michael murmurs as they walk up the wooden steps and find the man laying down. "Is he dead?" Michael asked louder to which their mother looked back in disapproval.

"If he's dead can we go back to Arizona?" Sam adds on the other side of Mia.

"No, I say we take his house for the summer. I don't want to go back." Mia puts in her opinion on the matter to which her mother's frown deepens.

"He's not dead, he's just a deep sleeper. Dad?"

"Of course I'm not dead!" Mia takes a step back as the old man suddenly opens his eyes and sits up. "I was only faking it and doing a damn good of job of it from what I'm hearing."

"Oh Dad," Lucy scolds her father, but a smile danced on her lips as she helped him on her feet.

After a rather awkward reunion with their grandfather, Mia followed Michael and Sam upstairs to where their grandfather had said their rooms were. Mia was shocked to hear that there were enough spare rooms for each of them to have their own. She followed her grandpa's instructions and opened the door at the end of the hall. On the other side was a fairly empty room much bigger than her old bedroom at home. A double sized bed sat in the corner covered with a lavender quilt that she could only assume was made by her grandmother before she died. Besides the bed, a small chestnut dresser stood by what must have been the doors to her closet. She smiled as she saw a matching chestnut vanity to her right. She hadn't expected to see one in the room. As a whole, the bedroom was rather plain and Mia didn't have much to personalize it with either, but she knew that a couple trips into town could change this predicament. In no time at all, she could make it feel just like home.

Eager to get started on unpacking her things in her new room, Mia headed out of the room and made her way downstairs to gather her possessions. On her way down the stairs, however, she was pushed into the banister as Sam and Michael came running down, the latter chasing the former. Sam giggling like a fool as Michael jumped over the bannister in hot pursuit.

"Hey! I'm walking here!" Mia yells at the two at the same moment their mother scolds them for running in the house. She gets over her frustration when Sam slides open a pair of doors that lead to their grandfather's taxidermy room. She jogs over to where her brothers stood in the entrance stunned, taking in the full, gruesome sight of her grandfather's works in progress.

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre, anyone?" Sam looks at both of his older siblings with a playful grin on his face.

"Rules!" Their fun was interrupted as their grandfather yelled behind them, a box of their things in his hands. "We got rules around here." He tilts his head towards the kitchen, a silent gesture for the children to follow him. Mia exchanges a questioning look with both Michael and Sam before closing the door to the room in front of them.

"Second shelf is mine," Their grandfather spoke as the three entered the kitchen and he opened up the refrigerator. "It's where I store all my root beer and my double stuffed oreo cookies. No one touches it, except for me." He closed the door, speaking of another rule as he left the kitchen. Mia made to follow, but Michael grabbed a hold of her arm and pointed to the plants growing in the windowsill. Mia giggles before pretending to take a hit from a joint causing both of her brothers to start chuckling. She joins in before wrapping her arms around both of their necks and leading them toward the main room where their grandfather was still rambling about the rules.

"Hey Grandpa!" Michael interrupts their grandfather, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Is it true that Santa Carla is the Murder Capital of the World?"

"Well…" Their grandfather trails off. "There's some bad elements around here, that's for sure."

Mia drops her arms, eyes widening in shock at her grandfather's words. She had expected him to chuckle and push it aside as some teenager's idea of a joke. The last thing she expected was for him to agree with the statement.

"Wait a minute," Sam voices Mia's disbelief. "You mean to tell me that I just moved to the Murder Capital of the World?"

"Well, uh, let me put it this way. If all the corpses buried around here decided to get up at the same time, we would have one hell of a population problem."

"Great Dad," Lucy walked into the house as their grandfather was speaking, a tired frown on her face as her father answered their questions. She rolled her eyes before taking the boxes she was carrying up the stairs.

Their grandfather ignored his daughter's comment and picked up the television guide from the table before making his way towards his taxidermy room speaking about some rule about not taking the sticker off of the front cover.

"And stay out of here." He gave Mia and her brothers one last look before closing the doors to the room and leaving them by themselves.

"If you guys help me finish bringing in our things, we can all head out to town for the night." Mia turned around to find her mother walking down the stairs. "There's not a whole lot of things left outside."

"Sure thing, Mom." Mia nods her head and smiles. She couldn't wait to go see all Santa Carla had to offer.

Lucy was right, there weren't many boxes left in the car and it only took the four of them a few more trips to get it all inside. Mia's boxes had been hauled up into her new bedroom and she had begun unpacking her few belongings. She started with her clothing, she had quite a bit of clothes ranging from crop tops and shorts to leather jackets and tights depending on what sort of mood she was in on a certain day. After her numerous articles of clothing were put away, she decided that she could do the rest later and began sifting through her closet for an appropriate outfit for the night. Feeling rather bold, she pulled on a pair of ripped jeans and a maroon top that fell just above her belly button.

"Come on Mia!" Mia rolled her eyes as she heard Michael yelling from downstairs.

"I'll go extra slow now, just for you!" She yelled back before walking over to her vanity and making sure her hair and makeup looked presentable. Digging through some boxes, she managed to find some eyeliner and fixed her eyes before running her fingers through her long blonde hair in an attempt to tame the wild mess. After a few minutes of achieving nothing, she decided to just let it be and grabbed some money out of her purse before running downstairs to meet up with the rest of her family. "Ready?" She asked shooting a teasing smile to Michael who was leaning against the door with an annoyed look on his face.

The trip to town took a lot less time than Mia thought it would. She had rode on the back of Michael's bike, much to his annoyance. Usually Michael never minded Mia tagging along and she knew he was only bothered this time because it might ruin his chances with the girls.

While their mother said she would roam around in an attempt to find a job, Mia followed her brothers to the crowd that had formed around a stage lit up with cans full of fire.

"This is so exciting!" Mia could barely hold her excitement in as they moved their way through the crowd to find a good spot to watch the concert taking place. Mia watched the scene in front of her with wide eyes. She could feel the music rushing up her body and the throbbing heat of the crowd surrounding her. In no time at all, Mia soon matched their rhythm, her arms raised in the air as she began to dance. "Come on, guys!" She groans as she notices that although her brothers were smiling, their bodies stayed relatively still. "If he can get on stage looking like that, you can dance down here!" She giggles watching as the man began to pelvic thrust while playing his saxophone. She bumped her hip with Michael's in another attempt to get him to dance, but soon saw that his attention had been pulled elsewhere. Following his gaze, she saw a pretty brunette dancing. "She's pretty." Mia playfully bumps his shoulder with her own.

Before she could say another word, Michael began to run off with Sam following close behind. Mia pursed her lips, annoyed that they would leave her. "That's ok! I wanted to be by myself anyways!" She yells at their retreating figures.

After a few more minutes, Mia decided to go and find their mother. It sounded better than following Michael as he chased after the first pretty girl he found and better than just wandering around the boardwalk by herself. With a decision in mind, she elbowed her way out of the crowd, flipping off any guy who got a little handsy with her as she did so.

It took her a few minutes, but Mia finally found her mother walking alongside the stores that lined the beach. "Hey Mom!" She giggled as she ran up behind her and hooked her right arm with hers. "Found anything yet?" She asked.

"No," Lucy sighs, though a smile crossed her face at seeing the gleeful and excited expression in Mia's eyes. "Having fun?"

"It's amazing!" Mia giggles with excitement, tightening her hold on her mother. "Moving here has been the best thing to ever happen to me."

"What about your friends? Don't you miss them?"

Mia shrugs her shoulder. "Sure, I miss them, but we would have parted ways sooner or later with college right around the corner."

"But what about Nick? You guys dated for a rather long time."

Mia's smile falls as her mother brings up the name of her former boyfriend. She uncrossed her arm with her mother's before wrapping her arms around her chest. If there was something that Mia didn't like to talk about, it was Nick. "We just didn't really work out."

"This isn't because of the divorce, is it?" Lucy asks with concern at seeing how upset she had gotten her daughter.

"No, not at all, Mom!" Mia quickly replies, afraid that her mother would think that it was her fault. "Nick just wasn't the man that I had thought he was, that's all."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lucy asks, throwing her arm around Mia's shoulders.

"Look, a help wanted sign!" Mia shrugs out of her mother's embrace pointing at the sign that hung in the window of a video store. "Come on!" She yells, forcing herself to forget about Nick and remind herself that he was long gone.

With a playful smile, Mia took off towards the store leaving her mother with no choice but to follow. Mia's eyes strayed away from her mother's as she entered the store. A man, about the age of her mother stood behind the counter and eyed her as she walked in. She stopped for just a second, trying to figure out the look in his eyes. It wasn't condescending or lustful, but...shocked, disbelief? She gave him a pointed look, showing that she didn't appreciate being stared at before wandering towards the back to look at the merchandise. She knew that there was no point, her grandfather didn't own a television, but she had to make herself look inconspicuous to watch and see if her mother would get the job or not.

She looked back towards the doorway, expecting to see her mother walking in, but instead saw her bending down and talking to what she could only assume was a little boy who had gotten himself lost. She looked away, however, when a group of guys walked in looking nothing short of trouble. She rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the movies in front of her. They were attractive, she would give them that, but they couldn't have looked less arrogant if they even tried.

"You new in town, sweetheart?" A low voice drawled in her left ear. Mia jumped at the sudden closeness of it before spinning around to find one of the boys standing in front of her. He had short blonde hair and icy blue eyes. A playful smirk danced across his lips as his eyes slowly trailed down Mia's body with a gaze that sent a shiver down her spine. Behind him, stood the other three boys, all eyeing Mia with an intent she was familiar with.

Mia narrowed her eyes at him before crossing her arms in front of her chest out of slight annoyance and slight discomfort. "Why don't you go take yourself and your pet names over to some girl who actually cares."

A chorus of "ohs" and laughter came from behind him and the man himself only chuckled as he cocked an eyebrow at Mia. "The name's David. What's yours _sweetheart_?"

David stepped forward as he spoke, getting closer to Mia than she was comfortable with. Out of instinct, Mia took a small step back causing a chorus of chuckles to sound from the surrounding boys. The dark glint in David's eyes was not one that she had ever seen before. It was terrifying, yet in someway intriguing. In all her years, Mia had never had someone look at her with such intensity.

"Mia!"

Mia snaps out of the trance she had gotten lost in as she hears her name being called. With a quick glance to her left, she saw her mother and the man from earlier looking on the scene she had somehow gotten herself into. While her mother looked amused, the man looked nothing short of pissed off. Mia's eyes trail back at David, who seemed more than pleased to have figured out Mia's name, before flipping off him and his friends. This only seemed to amuse them as they all burst out laughing as Mia walked away. As much as Mia wanted to turn around and give them all a piece of her mind, she chose to just ignore them. Besides, what was the chance that she would actually see them again? There were lots of people in Santa Carla and running into them would be slim, right?

"This is my daughter I was telling you about, Mia. Mia, this is Max." Mia's mother smiled as Mia approached her, oblivious to the boys that were playing with her moments ago.

Max, however, was not and frowned as the boys slid behind Mia and towards the exit. "I told you not to come in here anymore,"

David, who Mia assumed must have been the leader of their little gang, only grinned at Max's words, his eyes flicking over to where Mia stood next to her mother.

"We're just checking out the merchandise." It was the taller blonde who spoke, his eyes trained on Mia as he shot her a wink.

"Good one, Paul." The blonde behind him chuckled before playfully punching him in the arm.

"See you around, _Mia_." David drew Mia's attention back to him. His words holding an unsaid promise that Mia would be seeing him again much to Mia's distaste. Before Mia could think of a sarcastic remark to come back with, the boys left the shop. Mia didn't realize how heavy the air had seemed to have gotten until they left. She watched them walk over to the group of motorcycles sitting outside, ones that put Michael's to shame. As the boys got on and the purr of their motor could be heard, Mia's fingers itched to be able to get on the back of one and feel the wind run across her body as she flew through the night.

"Are they new friends of yours, Mia?" Mia was pulled from her thoughts as Lucy touched her shoulder and asked her a question.

Mia shook her head. "Not by a long shot."

"Smart choice, those boys are trouble." Mia's gaze trailed over to the older man at the counter.

"Aw, they're just kids. We were like that at one point in time too," Lucy giggles. "Though they dress better," Lucy bumps Mia's shoulder with her own in an attempt to lighten Mia's sudden dark mood.

Mia forces herself to smile at her mother, her mind was still off running with the four boys. She swore she could still hear the purr of their bikes as they made their way through the crowded streets. As much as Mia knew she should forget them and the trouble they were sure to bring, she couldn't stop thinking about them. They had made a lasting imprint inside her head, and she felt as though their eyes were still on her despite being long gone.

"Mia, honey, Max asked you a question."

Mia was shaken from her thoughts once again as her mother bumped her shoulder once more. "I'm sorry, what?"

Her mother frowned at Mia's lack of attention, but Max only smiled as he held a red sucker out to her and repeated his question. "Would you like one?"

Mia thought that his smile looked fake, but nodded her head anyways and took the piece of candy from his hands. "Thanks," she mumbles before unwrapping the sucker and popping it into her mouth. "I'm going to go find Michael and Sam. I'll see you at home, Mom." She gave her mother a swift hug before heading back outside with a final wave of her hand as her mother yelled at her to be careful.

Once Mia was back on the street, she was unsure where to start looking for her brothers. As she made her way back in the direction of the boardwalk, she passed by a comic store and was not at all surprised to see her younger brother inside, his back to her.

Mia's lips curl into a mischievous smile as a plan starts to form inside her head. She quietly sneaks up to her brother, who was in mid-conversation with two boys his age. She faked interest in the comics to her side as one of the boys gave her a weird look. A bandana was wrapped around his head and he wore a flannel shirt despite the heat of the summer. If Mia wasn't at least three years older than him, she might have found him cute.

"Sammy!" Mia yells once she was close enough to her brother and wraps her arm around his neck before playfully rubbing the top of his head with her hand.

Sam lets out a small scream in surprise before yelling at her to let him go with several obscenities interwoven. Mia laughs at Sam's words and threats, but let's him go after a few seconds.

"Mia, what the hell?" Sam mutters, his face lightly dusted with red as he fumbles to fix his hair.

"Sorry, but the setup was too perfect," Mia wasn't sorry at all. "Who's your friends?" She asked as she saw the two boys Sam was talking with giving her strange looks.

"Edgar Frog," the one with the bandana nods his head at her in greeting before tilting it to the boy next to him. "And this is my brother Alan. You Phoenix's sister?" He asks as he quirks an eyebrow at Mia.

"The one and only," Mia grins, she liked these two boys a lot more than the four that had messed with her at the video store. They didn't unnerve her, make her feel all vulnerable and nervous as they looked at her like she was some sort of candy to eat. "The name's Mia," She adds before sticking her hand out for them to shake. The two boys seemed a bit cautious of her, but Edgar eventually took Mia's hand before allowing Alan to do the same. Once Alan let go, Mia shoved her hands in her jean pockets. Her eyes wandered across the room and found a couple dozing behind the counter most likely stoned based on the clothing they wore. "You guys work here, or something?" She asked after seeing no other workers in the building.

"Is that a problem?" Edgar quirked his eyebrow, a small frown crossing his face.

"Chill, dude, I was just asking." Mia throws her hands up at Edgar's defensive tone. She was about to ask them if the couple behind the counter were their parents when a rough looking guy and his girlfriend took one of the comics from a bin out front and started running off with it. Edgar and Alan immediately noticed the robbery and began to run after the two while yelling at them to stop. "You know where Mikey is?" She turns her attention to her brother who was looking curiously at the comic in his hand.

"Probably still chasing that girl somewhere." Sam didn't look up from the comic as he replied.

"I thought you didn't like horror comics," Mia glanced at the comic in his hand and saw the word vampire written over the cover of it in large writing. It came complete with one of the undead creatures sucking the life out of a helpless, overly sexulized, woman.

"I don't, but they gave it to me anyways," Sam replies before walking out the store with Mia following along after him still sucking on the cherry sucker Max had given her.

"Vampires Everywhere, sounds...nice." She adds as an afterthought. "Oh, look! It's Michael!" Mia was surprised to see that Michael was alone leaning against his bike with the girl he had been chasing nowhere in sight. "Hey, Michael!" She yells before picking up her speed to catch up with him before he took off again. Michael looked over in Mia's direction as she approached him. "What happened to-" Mia's voice falters when she heard a chorus of voices yelling her name across the street.

Mia's heartbeat quickens when she looks up and finds the four boys who had left her in such a tizzy after their first encounter less than an hour ago. Mia had thought that her chances of seeing them were slim, she had hoped they would be too, but it seemed as though chance was currently against her.

Mia was even more surprised to see the girl that Michael had been chasing on the back of David's bike. What were the chances of that? Despite the coincidence, Mia didn't understand why David looked so damn pleased to see Mia once more when he already had a girl on the back of his bike. Though, the girl didn't look too pleased to be there as she stared at Michael wistfully.

"You want to go for a ride, Mia?" It was Paul who yelled at her, a wild smile on his face as he took Mia in, his bike purring underneath him.

Mia was in complete shock with herself as she nearly yelled yes, but stopped herself before she got herself in a situation that would get her in a hell of a lot of problems. She knew she didn't want to go with them, she had spoken a mere one sentence to them so far and that was enough to know that she wanted to stay as far away as possible from them. Why, then, did her body yearn to go with them? It was such a strange feeling having her head and her body on completely different tracks. It was almost overwhelming.

"Hell no!" She yelled back instead, but this only earned hoots of laughter from the four boys. Why the hell did they seem to find everything she did so funny? It was beginning to get on her nerves.

"Aw, come on babe, it'll be fun!" It was the other blonde that replied, not David, but one of the two that she had yet to find a name for.

"Don't worry, Marko, she'll come around." An involuntary shiver went down Mia's spine at David's words. What did that mean? She was definitely not going to be "coming around" and begin running around with them despite that burning itch deep inside to do just that. As if sensing the discomfort that he caused her, he shot a playful wink before revving his engine and taking off. The other boys followed David's lead, but not before each one hollered some last words that hinted at seeing her later.

"Geez, Mia, we've been here one day and you're already attracting trouble." Sam retorted when he walked up beside her still staring in the direction that David and his gang had taken off.

"I don't even know who they are!" Mia's voice raises as she attempts to defend herself. "I was literally minding my own business when they waltzed up to me. The only reason they know my name is become Mom yelled it across the entire store!"

"Mmhmm, whatever you say." Sam smirks up at her, not believing a word she said.

"It's the truth!"

The look Sam shot her told Mia that no matter what she said, it wouldn't convince him. With a frustrated sigh, Mia mumbled that she was going to go find their mom. As she left her brothers behind, Mia couldn't help but to smile in spite of herself. Sure, David and his friends were going to be an annoyance, but she was getting exactly what she wanted: a summer that she would never forget.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who followed or favorited this story so far! I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I enjoy writing it! If you have any feedback, please review, I would greatly appreciate it! It helps me stay motivated as well as helps to improve the story!**

 **(I do not own The Lost Boys. I only own Mia and any other original characters that might pop up.)**

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The sun was bright and high in the sky when Mia made her way down to the beach with her brothers the following morning. It was the perfect day to spend hours lounging on the sand as there was not a single cloud in sight.

The beach was fairly crowded, everyone else wanting to take advantage of the beautiful day just as Mia and her brothers had been hoping to. While Michael and Sam made their way to the nearby surfing stall to rent gear to try surfing for the first time, Mia made her way down the beach to find the perfect spot to relax. She went barefoot through the sand, enjoying the feeling of the hot grains of sand against her feet. It had been years since Mia had been able to visit the ocean, Phoenix was hours away from the coast after all, and she looked forward to taking full advantage of the beach during her stay here.

Once she found an empty spot near the water, Mia unfolded her towel and laid in out upon the sand. She dropped her other belongings on one of the corners before pulling off the t-shirt she had been wearing over her black, one-piece. She had bought the suit several years ago to have when she went swimming at one of the public pools back in Phoenix, but had only gotten to wear it once before her ex-boyfriend complained about the piece being too "slutty". Sure, it showed off a lot of her skin, the sides being cut to her hip bones and her back was left completely bare, but it was what was in style and Mia had never been one to dress very modestly. It wasn't because she wanted to attract other guy's attention like Nick constantly argued, but because Mia had liked the way the piece fit her body and not to mention, Phoenix was hot as hell. Now, afer their break-up and realizing what an ass Nick was, Mia was angry with herself for allowing Nick to control what she could and couldn't wear. It was her damn body and he shouldn't have had control of it, but at the time she was so enamored with Nick that she was terrified of loosing him.

"Fuck him," Mia mutters under her breath at the thought of Nick came up once more. She hoped that he would rot in hell for all she cared about him anymore. He was as good as dead to her.

Throwing any thoughts of her former boyfriend aside, Mia squatted down beside her towel to rummage through her bag and locate the suntan lotion she had stuck inside. After seventeen years in Phoenix, Mia's skin glowed with a natural tan, but she knew that she could never be too safe. She hated sunburns and definitely did not want to look like a lobster for the next couple of days. Upon finding the lotion, Mia sat down on her towel and began rubbing the white lotion into her skin.

Once she was covered, Mia pulled on her aviators, last year's birthday present from Sam. Before she could lean back and relax, she saw Michael and Sam approaching her, each with a surfboard in hand. Mia giggled as she saw Sam struggling to pull the board behind him. She could already tell that watching Michael attempt to teach Sam was going to be interesting. Michael had learned some of the basics from their mother the last time they were at the beach, but Sam had never touched a board before in his life.

The two boys left their possessions with Mia before walking out to the shore and wading into the water. Mia pulled her legs up to her chest as she watched the two. Michael, though struggling in the beginning, soon caught the hang of it and began to attempt harder moves. Sam, on the other hand, was a complete disaster and was continually wiping out. After about a half an hour, Sam gave up and walked over to wear Mia was laughing.

"Go fuck yourself," Sam grumbled along with several other obscenities under his breath before he collapsed on the sand next to her and ran his towel through his dripping hair. Mia ignored her aggravated brother as she continued to watch Michael out on the waves. He was doing well until a group of guys ride up right next to Michael and cause him to have a particularly nasty wipe out. Mia flinches at the scene, half wanting to go give the laughing boys a piece of her mind. She never could understand why some guys had the burning need to be such asses all the time.

Her father had been right when he told her continually as a child that boys were nothing but trouble. She had listened to him for a while, during that stage where all little girls thought that boys were gross, but that soon changed as Mia grew older. For a while, Mia had believed that her father had been wrong. Sure, some boys were a hell of a lot of trouble, but others, ones like Nick had seemed to be fairly genuine at first. Mia scoffed at her former naivety. How terribly wrong she had been. All boys, in some shape or form, were nothing but trouble.

With these thoughts, Mia's mind returned to the four boys that she had met the night before. They had been the type of boys that screamed trouble, but for some odd reason, Mia had been oddly attracted to them. She didn't understand why though. Sure they were attractive, but Mia had met a lot of guys full of trouble that had been attractive as well. Why then, did her body terribly yearn to give in to their dark desires?

Despite the hot weather, Mia shivered. She really hoped that her path would not cross theirs again. There was something off about them, like they were hiding some dark secret and Mia didn't want to be around to find out what that secret was.

 **~TLB~**

"You're Lucy's daughter, aren't you?" Mia looked up at the young woman behind the cashier as she entered Max's video store. She had hoped to find her mother and ask how her first day had gone, but she was nowhere in sight.

Mia walked up to the young girl and nodded her head. "I'm Mia."

"Maria," the girl smiles before holding her hand out for Mia to shake. "Don't worry, your mom just stepped out to go to the bathroom. She'll be back out in a few minutes." She adds as Mia takes her hand.

"You like working here?" Mia asks her, curious to see how a girl her own age felt about working for Max. Despite Max appearing to be the perfect gentleman to Mia and her mother so far, Mia couldn't help but still feel that Max wasn't exactly what he seemed to be. She hadn't mentioned this to her mother, as she seemed enamored by the man who had given her a job.

Maria nods her head. "If it wasn't for Max, I'd be living out on the streets. He helped me get back on my feet."

Mia was surprised by Maria's answer, though that didn't lessen her wariness towards the man any less. She was about to ask Maria another question when she saw her mother walk out one of the doors in the back and approach her.

"Mia!" Lucy's face lit up as she saw her came to give her a surprise visit. "How's your day been, honey?"

Mia matches her mother's smile as she walks up to the counter and leans her upper body against it. "It was great, Michael and Sam went surfing."

"How did that go? Michael seemed to catch on pretty fast when I tried to teach him a year or two ago."

"Michael's a natural, but Sam...not so much." Mia giggles as she remembers the numerous ways that Sam had wiped out while she watched them from the sand. Despite Sam's annoyance, she couldn't stop herself from laughing. After the three of them had spent hours on the beach, Mia had convinced her brothers to stay and watch the sunset with her. They had grumbled and complained about being hungry, but the moment that Mia offered to pay for their food if they waited, they had shut up and waited with her.

Although neither of them would ever admit it to Mia, she knew that they had enjoyed watching the sun set behind the ocean with her. Mia had seen several beautiful sunsets in her lifetime, but this one had been the prettiest she had seen in a long time.

"Give him time, I'm sure he'll pick it up in no time." Lucy smiles at her daughter before moving to start cleaning the counters and disrupting Mia's train of thought on the day's earlier events.

"Enough about me. I want to hear about how your first day went." Mia leans her elbows against the counter and leans her head down in her hands as she stares up at her mother in interest.

"It was great, Maria is an excellent teacher." Lucy smiles over at the other girl.

"You're mother's a natural," Maria adds from where she was ringing out a customer. "I hardly did any teaching."

"Mia! How are you enjoying Santa Carla so far?" Mia looked up from her mother to see Max walking in the store with a dog by his side. She had been wondering where Max had been.

"It's been nice," Mia still didn't know what it was about Max that set her so off edge, but she couldn't help but not feel entirely comfortable around him. Despite Maria telling her that Max had practically saved her, she still didn't like him.

Max went to reply, but was stopped when the dog at his side let out a low growl in her direction setting Mia further into unease. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten into him." Max tightens his grip on the dog's leash before offering Mia a sheepish smile. "He usually loves to meet new people."

"I"m sure he just smells my brother's dog on me." Mia shrugs her shoulders, attempting to act unfazed by him. "Well, it was nice talking to you guys, but I should probably go find Michael before he ends up leaving me here all night long." Mia looks back to her mother as she speaks. "Michael promised to let me ride home with him." This was only a half-lie. Michael had promised to give his twin a ride home on his bike, but that wasn't for another two hours or so. Mia just wanted to get out of the store before she felt even more awkward.

"What about Sam?" Lucy asks before Mia could walk past Max and leave the store.

"I think he's down the road at the comic book store. He's supposed to meet you here at eleven."

"All right, be safe, Mia!" Lucy yells at her to which Mia nods her head before walking out of the store. "And don't stay out too late!" Mia carefully avoids Max's dog who was still snarling at her as she left. It had to be Nanook, right?

Once she was back outside, Mia lazily made her way down the street, just enjoying the lights and scenes without a specific destination in mind. She still had a couple hours to waste, but was not entirely for sure what to do with them. When she passed by the comic book store that Alan and Edgar worked at, she saw her younger brother once again talking with them. Deciding that she had nothing better to do, she stepped off of the street and into the store.

"Hey, Sammy," Although Sam's reaction from the day before was nearly priceless, she decided against scaring him again. She wasn't _that_ evil of an older sister. Sam looked up from the comic book in his hand at she approached and Edgar and Alan seemed surprised to see her. "Did you get those comic books back?" She asked out of curiosity and remembrance of yesterday's events.

"Of course," Alan scoffs as though the idea that they wouldn't was preposterous.

"Impressive," Mia was surprised, she hadn't expected the two younger boys to succeed.

"You were at the '83 US Festival?" Edgar says as he eyes the white faded t-shirt that Mia had thrown on over her swimsuit.

"All Memorial weekend long!" Mia smirks as she pulls the bottom of her shirt out to get a better look at the vibrant design. "It was three glorious days of nothin' but rock." She spins around to show the boys the back of her shirt that held the bands who had performed.

Mia was about Sam's age when her aunt, her father's sister, had taken her along with her to the festival for Mia's birthday. It had been one of the best weekends in Mia's life and she longed to attend another music festival soon, but had not been able to follow through yet.

"The Clash...Judas Priest...Ozzy Osborne..Motley Crue! Phoniex, your sister kicks ass." Alan exclaims after scanning the festival's lineup and Mia spins back around.

"Damn straight, I do." She giggles before taking the comic book that Sam had been looking at out of his hands. " _Destroy All Vampires_?" She gives all three younger boys a confused look. What were these boys' fascinations with vampires?

"Think of it more as a survival manual." Edgar replies.

"You're kidding, right?" Mia giggles in disbelief. Did they skip the part where vampires were made up creatures to scare little children at night and not actually real? Upon seeing their unamused expressions, Mia stopped laughing. "Wait, you guys actually believe in this stuff?"

"Apparently Santa Carla is a pretty cool place according to vampires," Sam sarcastically explains before taking the comic back.

"This shop is just our cover." Alan crosses his arms.

"We've dedicated ourselves to a higher purpose." Edgar adds completely serious. "We're fighters for truth, justice, and the American way."

"So…" Mia speaks slowly as she attempts to process everything the two boys were telling her. "You guys are vampire hunters…?" Edgar and Alan both nodded their heads, but Mia was still struggling to comprehend what they were saying. "Well, I guess if I ever find myself with some unfortunate vampire problems, I'll know who to go to." She adds after a few awkward seconds of silence and wide-eyed staring.

"You may think it's a joke now, but just pray that you'll never have to call us," Edgar motioned to the number written on the back of the comic.

"Oh, I'll pray alright," Mia was glad to see that Sam thought the whole situation was just as crazy as she did as he replied sarcastically.

"Well, I should probably go see where Mikey's gone off to." Mia fumbles out after another few awkward seconds of silence. Her brain was still trying to process what had just happened. "Now I'm no expert with vampires or comic books, but if you guys ever want to talk music, just let me know." Mia adds as she slowly backs away and towards the exit. She waves to the three boys before spinning around and heading back out into the street.

Vampire hunters? The boys had to have been getting in their parents' stash of drugs if they actually believed the bloodsucking undead existed. Mia runs a hand through her hair as she lets out another chuckle in disbelief. And she thought Sam was strange!

Despite Edgar and Alan's unusual beliefs, Mia had to admit that she sort of liked the two boys. Sure they were a little weird-come on, vampires!?-but they were upfront and honest and Mia appreciated that. Plus, they had a killer taste in music and that was something Mia could talk about for hours.

Mia's thoughts were interrupted when she felt her stomach growl and she instantly threw her hands over it to make it stop. She hadn't ate much for supper and she was definitely beginning to feel it. Knowing that Michael was probably at the boardwalk, Mia decided to head in that direction and grab something to eat at one of the stalls.

The boardwalk was teeming with life when she entered and she had to wait in line for a few minutes to get herself a corndog. The moment she took a bite, though, she realized it was all worth it. With her food in hand, Mia set out to locate her brother in hopes of doing something besides just walking around. Maybe, she could convince him to go on some of the rides with her. She hadn't been able to try any of them yet, and the roller coaster was all but screaming her name.

After fifteen minutes of walking around, Mia had finished her corn dog but still hadn't located Michael. She was about to give up and go on some rides by herself, when she finally found her brother walking with a very familiar brunette near the boardwalk's entrance. They were approaching Michael's bike and a sudden panic went through Mia when she realized that Michael was about to leave her here by herself.

"Michael, what the hell?" She yelled as she ran to reach them before Michael left. Michael's face whipped up in the air, along with the girl who was about to get on behind him. "You promised to take me home!"

"I'm just taking Star to go get something to eat. I was going to come back for you, promise." Mia could tell that Michael meant his words and smiled sheepishly upon realizing her mistake.

"Oops, my bad." She mumbled out embarrassed as she ran a hand through her long hair. When her blue eyes caught sight of Star's still confused face, she realized that the girl didn't understand that she was Michael's sister. "I'm Mia, Michael's twin." She extended her arm out for her to shake. "Glad to see Mikey finally caught you." Michael shot Mia a glare behind Star's back at this last statement causing Mia to bite down hard on her tongue to keep from laughing.

Though Michael was embarrassed, the statement seemed to put Star at ease and she smiled sweetly at Mia. She reached out to take Mia's hand when the purr of all too familiar bikes touched Mia's ears and she saw David and his friends had pulled up around the three of them. Star seemed just as startled by their entrance and immediately dropped her hand.

 _God, not them again._ But Mia's heartbeat began to race in excitement despite the annoyance.

"Where you goin', Star?" David drawls from his bike, but his icy blue eyes were trained on Mia.

"For a ride." Star answered from beside Mia, though her eyes looked at the ground. "This is Michael, Mia's brother."

Mia didn't like the way that Star worded her last sentence, reminding her that everyone was already familiar with her even if she didn't want them to be.

"The name's David." David coolly states from on top of his bike before pointing to the rest of the boys. "This is Paul, Marko, and Dwayne."

"I'm Laddie." Mia was surprised to see the little boy sitting behind Dwayne. What the hell was he doing, running around with this dangerous group? He could have been a younger brother, but didn't really look similar to any of the older boys.

"I'm so glad to get to know you better," Mia's voice was laced with heavy sarcasm as she spoke. "but Michael and I should really be going now." She gave Michael a pointed look to show how much she really wanted to leave. Mia didn't think they would realize she wanted nothing to do with them even if it hit each of them with a truck.

"Nonsense, I thought we were going for a ride." The smile that David sent in Mia's direction was terrifying and sent shivers down her spine. With a small nod of his head, Mia saw Star reluctantly situate herself on the back of Michael's bike.

"I can't leave Mia here by herself." Michael replied and Mia could tell that this situation was beginning to make him just as uncomfortable as it was making her. Out of all the people that roamed Santa Carla, how did she get stuck dealing with them?

"Of course not. She can ride with one of us."

Mia's breath hitched at David's words and she felt her heart once again speed up. She saw the hand that David extended in her direction, the inviting smile that danced on his lips, but she also saw the dangerous glint in his eyes. It was the same way he had looked at her in the store yesterday. It sent shivers down her spine, though she didn't know if it was from fright or pleasure.

Mia's body subconsciously began to move in David's direction, ready to take his hand despite the warning bells that were going off in her head.

"That's not going to happen."

Mia's body froze as the spell that David seemed to cast broke. She once again had control over her body as Michael grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her back before David could touch her. Mia shook her head, confused and slightly terrified over what had just happened. A dark scowl crossed over David's face as he looked at Michael, but it was gone just as quickly as it came.

"But don't you want to come with us, Mia?" David once again drawled in her direction, ignoring Michael altogether. Mia quickly shook her head as her brain focused on Michael's touch. It anchored her, kept whatever had gotten into her head at bay. She knew that she didn't want to go anywhere with them, let alone get on one of their bikes, but a part of her fought to do just that.

"Aw, come on, baby!" Paul pouted from her left reaching for a strand of her hair, but Mia stepped back before he could succeed.

"We're not going to hurt you." The brunette, Dwayne, added, but the smile that he sent in Mia's direction spoke otherwise.

"We just want to have a little fun," Marko purred causing Mia to take another step back. "Get to know each other better." She didn't want to see what these guys considered _fun_ and she definitely didn't want to get to know any of them any more than she already did.

She once again felt the tug to listen to them, but it wasn't quite as strong this time and Mia easily fought it off. With her own frown sketched upon her lips, she turned to Michael who looked up at her as if waiting for her reply. He looked nearly as confused as Mia felt, but fully ready to follow through with what the other boys wanted. "Do whatever the hell you want, but I'm going home."

She ignored the whining voices of the boys. Each complaint and call made it harder for her to fight that inner tug towards them. In what took much strength, Mia managed to shoot each of the boy's a sharp glare before spinning around and walking away.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I want to send a very big thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far! Thank you so much for taking the time to send me feedback!**

 **(I do not own The Lost Boys, only Mia and any other OC's that might pop up.)**

* * *

"Mia! Are you in there?"

Mia woke up the next morning to the sound of someone loudly knocking at her door while calling out to her. Groaning, she rolled over in her bed to see that it was nearly eleven o'clock. She hadn't realized that she had slept in this late or she would have gotten up hours ago. As much as she loved to sleep in as late as she could, Mia hated wasted hours of the day sleeping. Sleep was nice, but so was being productive.

"Come in," Mia says through a loud yawn before propping herself up with her elbows.

The bedroom door opens and Mia sees that it was her mother on the other side, but her usual smiling face was etched with worry and she was wringing her hands nervously. "Did Michael tell you he was spending the night at a friend's house?" She asked making Mia's heart start to speed up. She was suddenly very awake.

"No, did he not come home last night?" Mia quickly sat up, her mind racing to the events that had occurred the night before. After letting everyone know that she had no intentions of going off with David or any of his friends, she had expected Michael to follow suit, but he never did. Instead, he had left Mia by herself and followed after that stupid biker gang. Mia had to call her mother to come pick her up from the boardwalk after Michael had left her stranded. Of course, Lucy had been more than happy to come pick up Mia, but that didn't make up for the fact that Michael had ditched her for the girl he was pining after and the boys who seemed awfully interested in making Mia's life miserable. She had been absolutely furious with him, ranting to her mother throughout the entire car ride home. She was ready to give him a full piece of her mind today, but now it seemed that she would have to wait because Michael just might be missing.

 _Oh god, what if it was all a trap and they had hurt Michael_?

Mia remembered the dark gleam in each of the boys' eyes and that sickly sweet smile that Dwayne had sent her when he had told her they wouldn't hurt her. And let's not forget the hidden meaning in Marko's words when he said they just wanted to have some fun. Her mind suddenly went to the missing posters that were plastered all over town and the words spray painted on the back of the Santa Carla sign:

 _Murder Capital of the World._

What was she thinking? She should have forced Michael to come with her last night and not allowed him to go with a group of guys that just screamed trouble. There had been so many emotions flooding through her last night, and she had been so angry at David and the others that she just wanted to get away. She had been so sure that Michael would have followed her, but he hadn't.

"I never heard him come in last night and he's not in his bedroom." Lucy's voice trembled as she nervously chewed on her fingernails. "Who did you say he went out with again last night? Those boys from Max's store the other day?"

"I'm sure he's fine, Mom." Mia walked over to her mother and put her hands on her shoulders, trying her best to look brave and not show how terrified she really was inside. She needed to be strong for her mother. "I know that I said a lot of bad things about them last night, but they wouldn't do a thing to hurt Michael. I was just angry at Michael for ditching me." Mia hoped the smile that she sent her mother looked convincing.

"But Max had said-"

"All grown ups think that teenagers, especially teenage boys, are trouble." Mia tries to come up with a convincing lie, fighting hard to not scream about how dangerous those boys were and how right that Max had been. "It's just a stupid stereotype that everyone your age tends to believe."

Mia's words seemed to calm down Lucy ever so slightly, but she was still searching for the answer as to why Michael had never made it home. "Then why didn't Michael come home?"

"It was probably late and he just crashed at one of their houses." Mia shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, trying to act like it wasn't an big deal when she was really freaking out. What did they do to Michael? "If he's not home by sundown, I'll go look for his friends and ask if they've seen him." Oh, she was going to do a whole lot more than just ask them. As terrified as she was of them before this morning, Mia felt her nerves intensify even more after hearing of Michael's disappearance. Despite her fears, she was going to give each of them a strong piece of her mind until she found out where Michael was. "Call it twin intuition, Mom, but I know nothing bad has happened to him." If anything, she wasn't lying here. Deep down, Mia could feel that Michael wasn't dead, at least not yet.

"You're probably right," Lucy sighs, though she didn't seem entirely calm or convinced. "Michael's just never down this before. I don't know what's gotten into him." She runs a hand through her short hair before leaning against the door frame. "Do you think he's acting out because of the divorce? I thought he was doing okay, but..."

Michael had kept up a strong demeanor during the entire ugly divorce battle, if only to help Sam and Mia cope better, but Mia knew that the divorce had affected him a lot more than he let on. While Michael never spoke about his feelings on the matter to Lucy or Sam, Mia had managed to coax out his true feelings on the matter. While Michael still loved their mother, he now harbored a strong hatred for their father. Mia couldn't really blame him, though. The divorce had shown their father's true colors and they weren't very pretty.

"You're probably right, Mom. Michael probably just needs some space to work out some issues. Give him some time to pull through." As much as Mia loved her mother, she wanted her to leave immediately. With each passing second, Mia began to freak out more and more. Each second brought to life a more terrifying scenario that Michael could have found himself into. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to suppress the panic before she blew it in front of Lucy.

"What about you? How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine, Mom." This wasn't necessarily true, but she was doing quite a bit better than she had been weeks ago. She would have been glad to have this conversation with her mother at any other time, but now wasn't a good one at all. "Really," she added after the disbelieving look her mother gave her.

"Okay, but if you ever want to talk about it-"

"I know, I can talk to you." Mia shot her mother a strained smile.

"Well, I've got to head into work, but you'll call me if Michael shows up, right?" Lucy matched Mia's tired smile as she glanced at the clock beside Mia's bed. She still seemed worried about Michael, but she did look a hell of a lot better than when she first entered Mia's bedroom.

"Of course I will," Mia shot her mother a fake smile. "Now, hurry up and get to work before you're late." _And before I really start to freak out and break all the fake assurance I just gave you._

Lucy bought her daughter's fake act and gave her a quick hug before doing as Mia had said. The moment she was out of sight, however, Mia slammed her bedroom door shut and leaned her body against it as true panic began to settle in inside her. She had to act strong for her mother, but Mia was truly scared. She knew that those boys were trouble the moment she saw them, even Max had told her so. She had tried to stay away, but they kept popping up in her life and now Michael was missing because of them. What had she let Michael do? She should have convinced him to go back with her. She should have _dragged_ him back with her. Why did boys insist on doing stupid things that they knew would get them hurt or in trouble? Where was their common sense?

Even if she couldn't have convinced him, she should have never let Michael go on his own. Yes, she hadn't wanted to go with them, they made her feel all strange inside, but she should have been there for Michael. She should have never left him with them. Maybe if she had gone with them, she could have dragged both their asses out before the trouble began.

Throwing on a pair of shorts, Mia walks out of her room and down the hall to Sam's. "Hey Sammy, open up!" She yells impatiently after knocking twice.

"What!?" Sam opened the door halfway and looked up at Mia highly annoyed. Nanook also sneaked her head out, and upon seeing that it was Mia, she nuzzled her head in Mia's open hand to get Mia to start petting her.

"Do you have any idea where Michael is?" She knew that Sam probably had no idea, but it was worth the chance.

"How the hell would I know? You're the one who saw him last." Sam's face scrunches up. "He probably spent the night with some girl." Sam shivered with disgust at that thought. "Why are you so freaked out anyways? It's Michael, he can take care of himself."

"Yeah, but he left with some very sketchy people last night." Mia subconsciously starts to nibble on the corner of her bottom lip at the thought of David, Marko, Dwayne, and Paul. She scratches behind one of Nanook's ear to help calm herself down.

"You're telling me he went with those bikers from the other night?" Sam gives her an incredulous look. "The ones who were with that girl he was drooling all over?"

Mia nods her head.

"Geez, Mia, you're stressing over nothin'. He probably just got drunk or stoned off his ass and passed out. He'll come around when he's sobered up."

"Eh, you're probably right." Mia relaxed her body against the open door frame at her younger brother's words. A part of her was still terrified that David had done something to Michael, but Sam's explanation was a lot more plausible. Sure they were sketchy people, but to think that they actually did something to Michael was a bit far fetched, wasn't it? "God, I must have spent too much time listening to Edgar and Alan last night." She chuckles bitterly. "Next thing you know, I'll start believing that vampires live in Santa Carla." Mia shakes her head, a smile breaking through as she remembers how serious the Frog brothers had been.

Vampires? Hah, she'd only believe that when she saw it!

 **~TLB~**

The entire day passed by without any word from Michael. The sun had set nearly a half an hour ago, and Michael still had not returned or called to let them know he was safe and still alive. Despite Sam's continued persistence that there was no reason for Mia to worry, Mia slowly began to do just that with each passing hour.

She had done all she could to keep herself distracted during the day, even going so far as to go out for a short jog when Mia hated running with a strong passion. When that had done little to ease her ever growing restless mind, she had took a long, hot shower before cooking supper for the two of them. Anything to keep her brain busy and distracted.

"That's it! I'm calling a cab." Mia abruptly announces when she finally couldn't take it any more. She drops the sandwich that she had been halfheartedly chewing on and walks over to the kitchen phone.

"Does that mean I have to go with you?" Sam groans with his mouth full of food.

"No, you're probably fine to stay at home by yourself." Mia ignores Sam's terrible etiquette and starts dialing the number for a cab that was written on a note attached to the refrigerator. "Just make sure you take your bath soon and I'm not saying that you have to be asleep by eleven, but at least be in your bedroom."

Their mother had called earlier in the afternoon to see if Michael had come back home and to let them know that she wouldn't be home until late tonight due to her going out with Max. Mia internally gagged at her mother's statement, but was glad to see that her mother was getting back out in the world and had told her to enjoy herself. Their grandfather had also left a few hours after Lucy had called, saying something about going to drop something off at the "Widow" Johnson's house leaving Mia and Sam home alone. While Mia usually would have celebrated having the entire house almost to herself, she couldn't bring herself to enjoy it while Michael was still missing. Sam's earlier explanation of Michael just being stoned or drunk somewhere became a lot less possible now that the entire day had passed by. Her earlier thoughts of David and the others doing something to Michael had crept back in her head and she couldn't find peace.

As she waited for the call to be answered, she knew that their mother wouldn't want her to leave Sam alone, but Mia knew that Sam would be fine. He was fourteen years old, which meant that he didn't need her or Michael babysitting him anymore. Even if this wasn't the case, she didn't want Sam anywhere close to her tonight when she found David, Marko, Dwayne, and Paul. She was going to keep Sam as far away from them as she could. If they were as much trouble as she thought they were, Sam definitely did not need to be involved with them. They had already caused her enough trouble with Michael and she had only met them two days ago!

God, all she wanted was to stop seeing them, distance herself as much as possible, but now it seemed as though she had no choice but to go straight to the lion's den. She shivered at that thought and half hoped that she wouldn't be able to find them. If she, by some miracle, found Michael tonight and was able to drag him back home, she was going to do more than give him a piece of her mind. She was going to make his life as miserable as he had made hers and their mother's this day. She was going to make sure he payed for all the hell he caused them.

After calling the cab, Mia hung up the phone and walked back over to her mostly uneaten food to start clearing up the supper dishes. "The cab'll be here in about twenty minutes. Hopefully I'll be home before Mom, but if I'm not just tell where I went." Mia instructed Sam as she started to run hot water in the sink. She grabbed the dish soap from the cabinet below as she finished speaking. "Please don't do anything stupid to get us both in trouble while I'm gone."

"Geeze, I'm fourteen, Mia, not two." Sam retorts and rolls his eyes in annoyance.

Mia turns around and gives Sam a pointed glare as she throws the rest of her meal to Nanook, who greedily starts eating it up. With the plate empty, she tosses it in the near scalding water.

"Yeah, well that doesn't make up for the fact that you can be a fucking idiot at times," Mia retorts back as she grabs Sam's empty dishes and tosses it in the sink with her own.

Sam mumbles some response that Mia couldn't quite hear, but she didn't really care. Sam was the least of her problems at the moment. As much as Sam could be an idiot, at least he didn't ditch her by herself at the boardwalk before disappearing with four guys who pretty much terrified Mia at this point.

"As much as you're a pain in my ass," Mia throws Sam another glare. "as of today, you're my new favorite brother."

Once the dishes were washed and put away-Mia had made Sam dry them for her-Mia had about five more minutes before the cab arrived.

"Remember, I want you to take your bath in the next hour or so and be in your bedroom by eleven." She began to go through her instructions with Sam once more. "Have at it with the food in the fridge, but any other dishes you get out, you have to wash them. If for some reason the house catches on fire, or vampires start attacking the house, I believe you can catch Mom at this number." She pulled out the piece of paper that held the number her mother had given her earlier and gave it to Sam. "Now remember, though, she is on a date and please don't call her unless it's an emergency." She rolled through a few more instructions, but Sam continued to brush most of them off. "I mean it Sammy!" Mia whacks her brother on the top of his head causing him to cry out in part pain and part annoyance. "If I get home and find out that you got me in trouble by doing something stupid in my absence, I will make your life just as miserable as Michael's will be when I get my hands on him."

Sam, who knew that Mia meant it, hushed up and promised to not do anything that might cause Mia to get in trouble by their mother or by their grandfather when he came back home. If he even came back home, that is. He had seemed awful cheery about going out to the "Widow" Johnson's house and Mia shuddered when she began to dwell too far in that thought.

After the kitchen was put back in order, and instructions were properly drilled into Sam's head, Mia ran upstairs to grab some money for the cab and her leather jacket. The days at Santa Carla could become unbearably hot, but the nights were cool and Mia didn't know how long she would be out. She was just running down the stairs when a horn sounded from outside signaling that her cab was here. "Don't do anything stupid!" She yells to her brother once more before flying out the door and towards the waiting cab.

She could only hope that she wasn't about to do anything stupid herself.

 **~TLB~**

Mia was a big bundle of nerves by the time the cab driver dropped her off near the boardwalk. She politely thanked the older gentleman and handed him a bundle of cash before stepping away.

Mia pulled her jacket closer to her body as she peered up at her destination and she could almost swear that she could already feel their eyes on her body. She thought about throwing herself back in the cab and telling him to take her back home, but upon remembering that Michael was out there somewhere, possibly in danger, gave her the determination to start walking and throw her nerves aside.

It didn't take her long to find them; they were close to the spot she had ran across them yesterday. It was as if they knew what she was doing and had decided to make things easy and wait for her. Though Mia doubted they were trying to make it easy for her. It was probably just more convenient for them. Mia's heartbeat began to speed up as she neared them and her stomach churned with nerves. She was afraid that she would end up making a big fool of herself, being the terrified, nervous state she was currently in, until she heard their shouts of laughter over the crowd. Then, she got angry, real angry. If they thought they could get away with not only messing with her, but messing with her brother too, well, they were in for a whole lot of hell.

"What the hell did you guys do with my brother?" Mia slams her hands down against David's handlebars and leans down to face him.

"Hello to you too, sweetheart." David didn't even seem surprised to see her, but instead a sly smile appeared on his lips as he took a long drag of the cigarette he was holding.

"Where. Is. Michael?" David's cool and apathetic exterior only further fueled Mia's anger. He was playing games with her like a cat would with a mouse.

"Hey, Marko! You know where Michael is?" David's smirk increased as Mia's anger intensified.

"Nope. Do you know where Michael is, Paul?" Marko winks at Mia from his bike before looking over at Paul with a wild smile on his face.

"Wait, who are we looking for again, Dwayne?" Paul lets out whoops of laughter as he continues the train of teasing.

"I don't know, I've found what I'm looking for right here," Despite her best effort, a blush flies up Mia's cheeks as Dwayne smirks over at her from his bike. This earned a chorus of rambunctious laughter from them all much to Mia's embarrassment.

"Stop fucking around and tell me where my brother is!" Mia exasperatedly yells earning a chorus of "ohs" from Marko, Paul, and Dwayne.

David drops the cigarette he had been smoking and grounds the butt with the heel of his boot before raising one of his fingers and pressing it against Mia's lips leaving a shiver of electricity coursing through her body. "It's not very polite for a lady to cuss." David tsked.

Mia straightened her body back up and fought to control the shudder that David's touch caused inside her. He smelled like leather and cigarette smoke, a combination that Mia would have never considered attractive until now. "It's not very polite to kidnap people either." She tried to sound tough, but she couldn't keep out the slight warble in her voice as David's single touch left her feeling slightly dizzy. What the hell was wrong with her, if the single touch of this guy caused her to get all nervous? She really needed to pull her head out of her ass before she got herself in trouble.

"We didn't kidnap him, Mia. He came with us on his own free will. Right, boys?" David looks back at the others who confirm David's statements much to Mia's disappointment. Upon seeing Mia's frown he spoke again. "Tell you what, darling, despite the fact that you don't seem to like us-"

"Whatever gave you that impression." Mia snorts, finding a bit of her confidence once more.

"We'll take you to your brother, because that's the type of guys we are." David finishes as if she didn't speak.

"No fucking way." Mia exhales at David's statement. She had expected the flirting and the teasing, but she had thought that they would tell her where Michael was so that she could go get him, herself. It had never crossed her mind that they would want to take her to him. There was no way she was even thinking about getting on the back of one of their bikes-even though her body was itching to do just that-and letting them take her to her certain doom. "Just tell me where he is, and leave me and Michael the fuck alone."

"What did I say about the cussing?" David raises one of his eyebrows as he continues to take amusement in Mia's current predicament.

"I'm not stupid enough to go with you, not after what you did with Michael." Mia crosses her arms and attempts to fight back the swirling panic inside her.

David shrugs his shoulders, unaffected by Mia's words. "You're choice, sweetheart. Guess you'll have to find Michael on your own." David starts up his bike, shooting Mia a wicked grin as the other three bikes spring to life around them.

"No, wait!" Mia yells when David made to move out. She didn't want to go with them, but she needed to find Michael or her mother would really start to freak out. If Mia knew anything about David from these past few days it was that she would never, ever be able to find Michael without him. She was trapped. She didn't have a choice but to do what they said.

"Yes?" David hummed, blue eyes glittering in dark amusement.

"Take me to Michael." Mia grumbles out, arms crossed against her chest as she glared down at David. God, she hated herself for what she was about to do. Michael was going to pay for what he was about to put her through.

"What was that? I don't think Paul could hear you." David purred, enjoying the discomfort that he was causing her.

"Does someone want to go for a ride?" Paul matches David's sultry tone, causing Mia to shiver, but it wasn't from fear this time.

Mia's head moved on its own accord causing chuckles to erupt. David outstretches his hand toward her and this time Mia didn't have Michael to hold her back. She moves toward him, fingers reaching for his hand. The moment that contact was made, he tightly grabbed hold of her wrist before she could change her mind and pull away. David pulled Mia towards him and helped her get on top of his bike behind him. Once she was on, she hesitantly wrapped her arms around his waist attempting to keep as much distance between them as possible. This was the first time that she had ever been on a bike with someone besides Michael and was suddenly very self-conscious of herself. She gasps when David grabs her hands and smashes her body close against him.

She hated it.

She loved it.

"You'll want to hang on, sweetheart," he chuckles and Mia was glad that he couldn't see her face as it flushed bright red. "See, I told you she'd come around, Marko." David exclaims with another laugh before gunning his bike and lurching forward.

Mia's hands instantly tighten around David's chest as the bike jumps forward and fights the fear that was gnawing at her stomach. She was doing this for Michael. She had to find Michael.

Mia's stomach dropped even more as she saw David approach a flight of stairs that led down to the sand. Before she could even voice her displeasure, David tore down them without a second thought.

"You're absolutely insane," she spoke loud enough for David to hear her once they landed safely on the sand and their speed began to increase once more.

"Come on, sweetheart, you know you love it."

And she did, but she would never admit it to David or any of the others. She loved the speed, the purr of the bike beneath her, the way that the wind tugged at her hair, even the feeling of her chest smashed against David's back and her arms around his waist. She didn't understand it, though. She didn't like David, Dwayne, Marko, or Paul, but she had never felt so alive as she did now. As much as she knew that this was very wrong, it felt anything but that.

As she grew more comfortable, Mia's grip loosened slightly. David was no stranger to what he was driving as he expertly wove in and out of the bonfires scattered across the beach. The rest of the boys seemed just as comfortable as David was and she could hear their yells and laughter over the rushing wind as they wove around David and each other.

She could see the people that they passed turn around and look at them as the flew by, she even thought she heard shouts of anger and annoyance, but Mia didn't care. She hadn't felt this alive in years, hadn't had this much of a thrill in years. She never wanted it to end.

The sand underneath the bike soon turned to dirt as they entered the woods. Mia gasped as the bike hit a bump and was airborne for a second before landing once more on the ground. Her shock soon turned into amusement and she let out a string of laughter. She could see the corner of David's lip curl upwards at hearing her, but she didn't care. If this was her one ride with them, she was going to let herself enjoy it.

"Whoo! Mia!"

Mia turned to look to her left when one of the boys yelled her name, a smile plastered across her lips. She found Paul racing past them, a similar grin on his lips as he winked over at her.

As they got farther into the woods, a thick fog began to settle in the air making it even harder for her to see her surroundings. Mia's smile fell as the nerves that had momentarily gone away began to come back. Even the best of drivers couldn't drive in these kinds of conditions. She struggled to even see the ground.

Mia was certain that David would slow down, but he never did. It was as if he wasn't seeing what she saw, as if the fog wasn't there for him. But that was impossible, wasn't it? Mia shook her head to try and clear it. What had she gotten herself into?

Despite not being able to see, Mia could feel the dirt ground change to something more solid. Her heart skipped a beat when she faintly heard the sound of waves crashing somewhere to her left.

Oh god, they were next to a cliff, weren't they?

Mia's grip once again tightened as she forced herself not to panic, but found it very hard not to. She couldn't see anything, she was on the back of a motorcycle with a boy that Mia had no doubt was dangerous along with the rest of his friends, she was completely lost and doubted that there was anyone around to hear her scream, and she was undoubtedly next to a giant cliff that would most likely lead her to her death if she fell.

What the hell did she get herself into?

If by some miracle she survived the night and found Michael, she was going to make his life a living hell for everything that he had dragged her through. She was never going to let him forget it, never.

Mia fought to control her fear as David's bike slowed to a stop. "I thought I told you to take me to Michael." She ignored his help and climbed off as quickly as she could, the fog having mostly lifted so she could see. Michael was nowhere in sight, but then again, there was nothing here to begin with. This made Mia's heart begin to speed up with fear, all earlier excitement completely gone.

"Oh, you wanted us to take you to Michael?" David grinned as he saw how nervous Mia really was. "I thought you just wanted to go for a ride."

"You bastard!" Mia yelled, shooting an icy glare in David's direction. Her hands formed into fists at her side as she fought the urge to wipe that grin off of David's stupid face.

"You might want to watch where you step," David ignored Mia's insult as he nodded his head to where she stood mere inches from the cliff's edge.

Mia glanced behind her and shrieked when she saw how close she had come to the edge of the cliff. She could see the waves hitting the rocks at the bottom and quickly moved away.

Mia was so preoccupied with getting away from the edge and not falling to her death, that she didn't realize she ran straight into Dwayne. "Whoa, relax, babygirl, you're safe with us." He purred in her ear and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Where's Michael?" She meant for it to come out demanding, but Mia's lip trembled and it sounded weak and rather pathetic in her opinion.

"Aw, you're cute when you're scared." Marko reached up and cupped Mia's cheek with his hand, his thumb softly brushing across her bottom lip.

Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest and a cool shiver went down her spine. She was absolutely terrified, but her body pulsed with pleasure under their touch, which only terrified her even more.

With what took much effort, Mia untangled herself from Dwayne and Marko only to find her back pressed against another. "Don't worry, sweetheart, you're brother's just went out with Star and Laddie. He'll be coming around soon." Mia didn't have to turn around to know that it was David.

"This isn't what we agreed to." Mia turned around and crossed her arms against her chest. They had said they would take her to Michael. If Mia knew that she would have to spend an unknown period of time in an unknown location alone with them, she would have never came. She would have taken her chances on her own. "You said you would take me to Michael."

"Was that what I said?" David leaned over, his face getting much too close for comfort to her own.

"Oops, guess you'll just have to wait with us." Paul laughed as he grabbed hold of Mia's hand and started dragging her towards an opening in the rocks in front of them.

Mia didn't have anytime to refuse before the other boys followed Paul's lead and clambered inside ahead of her and Paul.

Mia didn't know what she was expecting, a dark, empty cave, maybe; but after Paul dragged her down a rocky decline she was not at all prepared for what she saw. Her eyes lit up in awe as the cave opens to reveal a large room filled with the broken remains of some sort of building. Hundreds of candles filled the room, casting the scene in an eerie glow and graffiti covered the walls while junk littered the floors. If Mia had to imagine where these boys lived, she couldn't think of a better place.

"Pretty nice, huh?" David spun around to face Mia as she took it all in. "This was the hottest resort in Santa Carla eighty-five years ago. Too bad they built it on the fault. In 1906, when the big one hit San Francisco, the ground opened up and this place took a header right into the crack."

"Now it's ours!" Marko hollers.

"So check it out, baby." Paul chuckles in her ear before letting go of her hand and running off to follow Dwayne and Marko as they ran around like fools, climbing over furniture and rocks while laughing.

"You hungry, sweetheart?" Mia stopped her gawking when David asked her a question. She turned her head to find him lounging in an old wheel chair, an inviting smile on his face as he looked at her. He held a box of Chinese food in his hand. Mia loved Chinese food. Mia shook her head. As much as she did like Chinese, she didn't trust them enough to eat anything that they offered her.

David gave her an unreadable look, but Mia turned her head and ignored it as she awkwardly walked further into the room. As much as she felt she should have been terrified, she felt oddly at ease here, as if she were home. Why she felt this way. Mia didn't have a clue.

She continued to take in her surroundings as she walked, fingers tracing against the dusty junk that filled the room. She could feel four pairs of eyes watching her every move as she looked around, but she did her best to ignore them. She was going to go insane if she had to wait here with them for very long.

"You want one?" Mia's body tensed as Paul wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders and held a joint up to her face. Had they never heard of personal space before?

"I don't smoke." Mia's face scrunched up and she yanked Paul's arm off of her. Mia was no stranger to drinking, but she never did pick up smoking, let alone smoking marijuana. Even if she did, there was no way she would even think about getting high when she was with them by herself. She wasn't that stupid. She needed to keep her head as clear as she could.

Paul shrugged his shoulders, unfazed by Mia's reply, before lighting up the joint and taking a long drag.

"How long do I have to wait here?" Mia sighed as she sat down on the circular edge of a the fountain that had long since been dried up.

"Why? You don't like hanging out with us?" Marko pouts as he falls down next to her.

"Nope," Mia retorts and swats at the hand that Marko raised towards her face.

"It didn't look that way earlier," Paul collapses on the other side of her. "I think someone was enjoying herself on the back of David's motorcycle." Paul's free hand moves to lay on her upper thigh causing Mia to flush. "Maybe you'll ride with me next, huh?"

"God, what's wrong with you guys?" Mia groans, though her face was still flushed. She stood up and stepped away from them to get herself some fresh air. Being that close made her head start to spin. Her actions and words only caused a chorus of laughter to break out.

"Hey, Marko, why don't you go get us something to drink?" David said after the laughter died down. He shot Marko a wink to which the latter smirked before hopping up and running to go do as David asked. "That's what I like about this place, Mia. You ask and you get."

"Well, I don't know how many times I've asked for my brother and I still don't see him," Mia crossed her arms, allowing a small smirk to form on her face.

"Maybe because you haven't asked very nicely," David tsked before reaching forward and tugging Mia towards him. When Mia tripped over a rock, David used Mia's current loss of balance and pulled her on top of his lap. Mia didn't have any time to react before David's arms wrapped around her body and caged her in leaving her heart to start racing. "Maybe," David breathed as he buried his head in the crook of Mia's neck. "if you ask real sweetly, we can work something out." Mia's body froze as David's teeth grazed against the fragile skin over her jugular. A low chuckle reverberates from his chest and he brushes his lips across the skin where her neck met her jaw.

She wanted to say something, anything to show David that he couldn't just play with her that easily, but no words came through. Her head felt like it was spinning, the only thing she could focus on was the warm tingles shooting through her body from where David's touch had been. She needed to get out of here before she really lost her head, but how?

"Did someone order drinks?" Marko hollers when he enters the room with a large, exquisitely designed wine bottle in hand. He waltzes over to where Mia and David sat, a wicked grin on his face as he saw where Mia currently was. He uncorks the bottle before handing it to David.

David raises the bottle to his lips, taking a long drink before lowering it once more. "Have a drink, sweetheart." He offers the bottle to Mia, but she shakes her head, refusing to. There was something about that dark glint in his eyes that told her she didn't want to. "Be one of us, Mia." His lips brushed Mia's ear and she shivered. She didn't want to drink, she knew she didn't, but she somehow found the bottle in her hands anyways.

"Mia, Mia, Mia," The boys had begun to chant her name, causing her head to really become confused. She didn't know what she wanted anymore.

David guides the bottle up to her lips and she could smell the sweet scent of the wine inside.

One little sip couldn't hurt, right?

Mia slowly tilts the bottle, her lips opening ever so slightly to have just a tiny sip, if only to appease the boys around her. The moment the liquid touched her lips, Mia nearly moaned. She had never tasted something so sweet or ambrosial as this. She was just going to have a little, but once she gulped the first bit down, she couldn't seem to stop.

She faintly heard cheers around her, voices encouraging her to keep going. She felt the bottle tip up even more as David encouraged her to continue drinking. Mia's head began to spin and she removed the bottle from her lips, her eyes still closed as she tried to focus. She had come here looking for someone, hadn't she? She couldn't seem to remember.

She felt the bottle be taken from her hands and she leaned back against David, her head turning to bury into his neck. God, he smelled good.

"You're one of us, babygirl." She heard Dwayne coo in her ear. She turned her head and saw Dwayne's face through half-lidded eyes. He was mere inches from her, a sultry smile on his face. He smelled differently than David did, but just as good. Her eyes flickered to his lips, the aching desire to kiss them rising up within her. As if sensing her thoughts, Dwayne's hand grabbed Mia's chin and jerked her face towards his in order to smash his lips against her. He tasted just as good as he smelled and Mia raised her hands around his neck to pull his mouth even closer.

She felt a hand-most likely David's-sneak through the bottom of her shirt. Mia moaned as it started stroking the bare skin of her abdomen. Dwayne took this to his advantage and slipped his tongue into Mia's mouth and she put up no resistance. David's mouth brushed her exposed neck and Mia felt like she would explode by all the feelings building up deep inside her. This was the closest to paradise that she had ever been.

"Come on guys, share!"

A hand grabbed her by the crook of her elbow and pulled her off of David's lap and out of his and Dwayne's grasp. She was about to voice her complaint, not wanting to leave their touch, until she saw Paul grinning down at her to which she shyly smiled back. Before she could even speak, Paul's mouth collapsed on top of hers and a hand wrapped around her neck to keep her in place. Mia's hands wove themselves in his hair, tugging ever so softly as she moved her mouth in sync with Paul's.

When she could take it no longer, Mia gently pulled back. Her chest heaved as she drew in the much needed air. She was able to draw only a couple breaths before another hand grabbed her chin and Marko pulled Mia's mouth towards his.

Her body was on fire, her head was spinning. All thoughts as to what she was doing here left her mind. She couldn't focus on anything except for their touch. She didn't really know what was happening, except that it was the most pleasurable moment of her entire life and she never wanted it to end.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey, guys! Thank you once again to everyone who has followed or favorited this story! It really means a lot to me!**

 **Also, I just moved in to my dorm and will begin my first year of college classes next week. Because of this, updates are probably going to start getting slow as I'll be focusing on my classes. I'm going to try and write whenever I can, so don't freak out when I haven't updated in a while.**

 **(I do not own The Lost Boys, only Mia and any other OC that pops up.)**

* * *

"Mia, honey, are you still sleeping?"

Mia was roused from her slumber to hear a light knocking at her bedroom door. Each knock sent a wave of pain coursing through her head and she buried herself farther underneath her covers in an attempt to stop it.

She felt horrible, all the way from her head to her toes. Her body hurt, especially her head, and she was terribly thirsty.

The knocking stopped, thank god. She thought that whoever was at her door would just leave her alone, but she realized that this wasn't the case as her bedroom door opened and someone walked inside. "Mia?" Her mother asked and she felt the side of her bed dip down. Mia hesitantly lowers the blankets from around her head and peeks out at her mother. "Sorry, I didn't think you would still be in bed." Lucy apologized as she sees Mia was still half-asleep. Mia could only imagine that she looked like hell based on the way that she currently felt.

"S'okay." Mia mumbles out, but doesn't make any motion to move. She hurt way too bad to even think about sitting up. She really just wanted her mother to leave so she could go back to sleep. "Is there something you wanted?"

"I just wanted to thank you for getting Michael back home last night."

Mia blinked twice, unsure of what her mother was talking about. She faintly remembered that Michael had never came back home after going out with Star, David, and the rest of the group a couple nights ago, but everything after that was one big giant blur. Had she gone out looking? She didn't remember and that terrified her. She couldn't let her mom find out what was happening, though. She had been through enough stress already. "Yeah, no problem, Mom." Mia tries to smile, but knows it ends up looking fake.

Why couldn't she remember anything? What had happened? She thinks she remembers going out looking last night, but then what? Did her loss of memory have something to do with the way her body felt like hell at the moment? Why the hell couldn't she remember anything?

"What time is it?" Mia struggles to sit up, her body protesting underneath her.

"It's almost two." Lucy smiles as she tucks a piece of Mia's hair behind her ear. "Jesus, Mia! You're freezing! Do you feel okay?" Her hand moves to feel Mia's forehead.

"I'm fine, Mom." Mia shakes her mother's hand off of her. She was very far from fine though. She was internally freaking out and just wished that her mother would leave the room, so she could try to figure out what the hell had happened. "Promise." She adds seeing the unsurety in her eyes.

"All right, but if you need anything just let me know. I've got to head into work in less than an hour." She leans forward and kisses the top of Mia's head before getting up. She gave Mia one last look before leaving the room and softly closing the door behind her.

Mia sat up in bed, her blankets held tightly against her chest as she struggled to not start panicking. But she couldn't remember, no matter how hard she tried to make the memories come up. No matter how deep she searched inside her head, everything just ended up all black and murky.

 _Relax, Mia._ She forces her breathing to slow. She wasn't going to accomplish anything if she couldn't calm down. The more relaxed she was, perhaps the easier it would be to get her bearings. _Just try and start from the beginning. What do you remember first about yesterday?_

That was fairly easy to remember. She had slept in late, only to be awoken by her mother. She had come in the room and asked if Mia knew what had become of Michael because he never came home that night. Michael didn't show up the rest of the day either, so what had Mia done about that?

She had called a cab!

Mia felt her nerves slowly unbundle as the night's events slowly started reappearing inside her mind.

That's right, she had called a cab and went out to the boardwalk in order to search for Michael. She had been so sure that David and his friends had done something to Michael and that was why he had never came back home. It hadn't taken her long to find David, Marko, Dwayne, and Paul and she had ordered them to tell her what they had done to her brother. Her face began to redden as she remembered the taunting and flirtatious remarks they had thrown her way while she tried to get information about Michael from them. Finally, Mia had gotten somewhere when David had told her he would take her to her brother. She hadn't wanted to go with them, the mere thought had terrified her, but was left with no choice in the end. She had gotten on David's bike-she blushed once more at the thought-but then there was nothing. She couldn't remember a single thing after going with them to locate her brother.

Mia groaned in frustration as she fell onto her back on the bed. What had they done to her? Why couldn't she remember what had happened last night? Why did she feel so shitty? She hadn't gotten drunk, had she? She had had a hangover or two in her lifetime, but this didn't exactly feel like a hangover. Even if it did feel like a hangover, Mia knew that it couldn't have been one. Even if she couldn't remember what had happened, Mia knew that she would have never let herself even touch alcohol while alone with those boys, let alone get drunk. She wasn't that stupid.

There was another short knock on her door. Mia wanted to tell them to go the hell away, but the door opened before she could utter a single word.

"How you holding up, Mia?"

Mia shoots up when she hears Michael speak, but immediately retracts when the light from the hallway hurts her eyes and causes her head to explode in a new wave of pain. Her arms cover her face and she dives back underneath the covers to protect herself from the light and cause the pain to settle down once more. She faintly hears the door close and she thought that Michael had left until she felt the bed dip down to her left. Her mother had said that she had brought Michael home last night, but she didn't remember doing so. Why was that?

"What happened, Michael?" She asks still covering her eyes with her arms and not facing her brother. She knew that she should probably be angry with him, but she was too tired and too confused to act out on it. "I can't remember anything."

"Here," Michael gently pulls back the blankets back from Mia's head and pushes something into her hands. Mia cautiously moves her arms to find a pair of sunglasses. She gives Michael a questioning look, but gratefully pulls them on. It helped with the light that still seeped into her bedroom.

"I don't feel good, Mikey." Mia whines. Her throat was starting to burn and her head still ached.

"It's okay, Mia. You're going to be fine. Just go back to sleep, 'kay?" Michael brushes her hair back behind her ear. "I promise I'll explain as much as I can when you wake up."

Mia wanted to argue, really she did, but her bed began to feel really comfortable and her eyes became really heavy. "You better." She manages to slur out before her eyes close for good and she falls back asleep.

 **~TLB~**

By the time that Mia woke up again, she felt a ton better than she had earlier. Her head still felt like it weighed a ton and she was still unbelievably thirsty, but the rest of her body didn't ache any more and she felt much lighter.

Slowly, she unwrapped herself from her blankets and stretched her arms while yawning. She froze, however, when she saw that the clock on her wall read it was almost seven o'clock. She had slept the entire day away.

Mia tiredly gets up from her bed, surprised to see that she was still in her t-shirt and jeans from the night before. While she loved skinny jeans, they were not the most comfortable thing to wear. Her leather jacket had been thrown haphazardly on the floor by the bed. Why had she not changed out of her clothes the night before? Running a hand through her hair, Mia collapses back down on the edge of her bed as she tried to once again remember what happened. Nothing made any sense at all. And why was she so damn thirsty?

Attempting to ignore the burning in her throat, Mia once again went through the events that she managed to remember earlier in the day. She had gotten on the back of David's bike...and...they had raced along the beach...yeah! That was right! She had enjoyed it, the thrill of the ride and her hands around David's waist. This last memory caused Mia to blush bright red. What had gotten in her head? Since when had she been attracted to David in that way? He was nothing but an arrogant douche bag who really needed to learn how to treat women correctly. But then again, so did the rest of the boys. So why had she felt that tug of attraction to them?

Mia shakes her head to clear her head. She could rant about why she hated David and the others at another time, but now she needed to focus on remembering what exactly had taken place the night before.

Okay, so she, by some idiotic reason, had found herself on the back of David's bike to go find Michael. But they hadn't taken her to Michael, had they? No, they had taken her to some sort of cave by the cliffs. It had been a...resort? Yes, a resort that had sunk when the 1906 earthquake happened. At least that was what David had told was where they lived, though as much as Mia had felt at ease there, she couldn't understand why they would want to live there? Mia had been angry at David because he had told her that they would take her to him, but they hadn't. They had made her wait there with them. She hadn't liked it, as the boys had continued to flirt with her, getting much too personal with her than she had felt comfortable with. And then, Mia cringed, David had pulled her on his lap. She had tried to move, at least she thought she had, her brain had started to get a bit fuzzy at this point. It was as if he had started to mess with her head again, like the other day when she almost got on the back of his bike when she really didn't want to. Then, Marko had brought out the wine. She hadn't wanted to drink, it would be incredibly stupid of her to do so, but she had thought that one little sip wouldn't hurt her.

Oh, god!

Mia puts her head in her hands when the next wave of memories come tumbling back inside her head. She didn't know how much she had ended up drinking, but the effects of the wine had been almost instantaneous. Everything important seemed to have faded from her head and all she could focus on was David and how good he had smelled. Dwayne had said she was one of them now, she still didn't understand what that had meant, and then...oh god...it hurt to think what had happened next. She couldn't remember exact details, but she did remember the way she had lost control of herself. Her face turned beet red as she remembered the way that she had let them touch her, let all of them touch her. Everything from that point was hazy, but how had she let herself get in that situation? She was smarter than that. She was _better_ than that. That wasn't like her at all.

Mia felt like she would burst into tears at any moment; she was incredibly upset with herself. After Nick, Mia had set up strict guidelines for herself and her future conduct with any guy and she had broken nearly every one of them. How could she have been so stupid? Mia wasn't usually very self-conscious, but the thought of facing them again after what she had done made her feel all sick inside. She had planned on avoiding them before now, but after this she really meant to do everything she could to never see any of them again, ever. She was done with their stupid games. She was done with them.

She was never going to see or talk to them again and then she was going to forget that anything had ever happened and move on. She could do that, she was good at moving on from past mistakes. She could just forget that the past few days ever happened and continue on with her summer as though it never happened.

Mia felt a tad better with this thought and forced herself to stand up to go turn on the bedroom light. She would get herself a change of clothes and then go take a shower. Hot showers always helped Mia to feel better. Mia walked over to the light switch and flicked it on. She screamed, however, when the light burned her eyes and she was forced to quickly turn them off.

What the hell was that? She remembered a similar reaction when she had woken up hours ago, but she felt so much better now. Why were her eyes so sensitive? Why did the light burn so badly?

"Hey, Mia, you okay?" She heard Michael ask her on the other side of her door and she suddenly grew very, very angry. Last night was all his fault. None of it would have ever happened if he hadn't run off and worried her and her mother half to death.

Mia whipped the door open, wincing back when the hallway light hurt her eyes. She scrambled over to where Michael's sunglasses had fallen off while she was sleeping before spinning around to see a concerned looking Michael.

"No, I'm not okay!" She yells crossing her arms. "You just had to go off with them, didn't you? Do you know how scared I was, thinking that they had done something to you? Thinking that they had hurt you? I was left with no choice but to go crawling up to them to get you back, letting things that shouldn't have happened, happen. And I still don't entirely know what the hell is going on and it's all your fucking fault!" Mia's yells soon turned to tears. She didn't want to cry, but she was just so frustrated and she always cried when she was frustrated.

"Hey, don't cry Mia." Michael pulls Mia into a tight hug and she was too exhausted to pull away. "I'm sorry I got you so scared."

"Where were you? Why didn't you come home?" Mia finds the strength to pull herself from his arms and wipes vigorously at the tears running down her face. She was supposed to be making Michael feel miserable, not herself.

"I just needed to get away for a while, clear my head, you know?"

"Then you could have told me that! Not just ditch me at the boardwalk before disappearing to god knows where!" Mia's hands clenched into fists. Michael was acting like everything was fine, like nothing even happened. If only he knew of the hell that Mia went through last night to make sure he was safe.

"Look, I'm sorry, Mia. I'll make it up to you, I swear." Michael at least had the decency to look like he was sorry.

"You can do that by staying the hell away from them then. No more messing with any of them, not even Star. They're nothing but trouble."

"That might be a problem." Michael frowns ever so slightly at Mia's words.

"Look, I know you like Star, but I don't fucking care." Mia glares at Michael. She did not go through all the trouble for Michael to act like this. He owed Mia big time, and he was going to pay up for it. "You'll find another pretty local girl in no time."

"It's not that, I think they did something to us, Mia."

"Yeah, they give me a damn headache," Mia groans as her head had began to start pounding again as time went on. What she really needed at the moment was some Tylenol.

"No, not that, I think they changed us." Michael seemed worried as he spoke and he fiddled his hands together as he looked at Mia.

"What are you talking about?" Mia gulped at Michael's words. What did he mean, they changed her? "I don't understand."

"They're vampires, Mia, and I think they're trying to change us as well."

"Vampires?!" She exclaims incredulously. Mia didn't know what she had expected Michael to say, but vampires was not it. "I'm not stupid, you know?" She narrows her eyes at him.

What was with all these people and their fascinations with vampires? Sure there was something off about David, Marko, Paul, and Dwayne, something dangerous about them, but to say they were vampires? Mia nearly laughed at the idea.

"I'm not playing, Mia." Michael grabs Mia's hands. "That wasn't wine you drank last night, that was blood, their blood."

Mia's face twisted into disgust. There was no way that she had drank blood last night, it had definitely not tasted like blood to her. But, how had Michael known she had drank last night when he wasn't around? Despite the insanity of Michael's words, Mia began to grow a little nervous. "Stop it, Michael. This isn't funny."

"That's how they turn you, you drink their blood." Michael looked dead serious as he spoke further fueling Mia's nerves. She wanted to believe that this was some cruel joke, but a part of her was beginning to believe it. "Star had warned me not to do it, but I didn't listen." Michael drops Mia's hands as he shakes his head. "It was only after it was too late that I had found out what I had done."

"Stop playing with me!" Mia crosses her arms across her chest.

"Can't you feel it, though? That something's different about you?"

Mia could feel it, deep down inside her. She felt stronger, lighter. It would explain how her eyes were so sensitive, and that burning thirst inside her.

"No!" Mia yells, covering her ears with her hands. "No, you're wrong!" She glares at Michael. "They're not vampires and I am not a vampire! Vampires aren't real!"

"Follow me," Michael gives Mia a sad look before dragging her out of her room and towards the bathroom. She was about to ask Michael what he thought he was doing when he flipped on the bathroom light and Mia saw her reflection. She could still see herself, but her whole body was transparent. She could literally see through herself.

"Oh my god!" Mia cries as she reaches up to touch the mirror. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't, but it was a bit hard for her to deny the truth when she was staring at her reflection like this. This was evidence that she couldn't deny. "I'm a vampire!" She looks over at Michael only to find his reflection similar to hers. They were both vampires.

"No, not yet." Michael did his best to calm Mia down, but she began to feel like she couldn't breath. Her throat tightening up as panic truly began to kick in. This couldn't be happening. She was dreaming, she had to be dreaming. "We're both still half-vampires. You don't fully become one until you make your first kill."

"There's got to be some way to reverse this. I didn't know what I was doing! I thought it was wine! They tricked me!" Mia started to pinch the back of her hand, practically begging herself to wake up, but nothing happened. She was already awake.

"I'm sorry, Mia, Star said there's no way to reverse it." Michael softly replied.

"No, there's got to be," Mia was desperate for a way out. She hadn't asked for this, any of this.

 _You're one of us, babygirl._

Mia shivered as she remembered the words Dwayne had cooed in her ear. She hadn't understood his words then, but now they made perfect sense. They had known exactly what they were doing to her last night, but why? Why change her?

"Why me? Why did they take all that time and effort to turn me when they could have just..." Mia couldn't bring herself to say those last words.

Michael's face crumpled up in confusion. "I don't really know. Star wouldn't really talk about it."

"You said Star tried to warn you. Why didn't you listen? Why didn't you just leave?" As much as Mia knew that this wasn't entirely Michael's fault, she couldn't help but to blame him for her current predicament. "If you would have just left, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't have had to go out and find your sorry ass."

"I know, I know." Michael ran his hands through his hair. "But I want to be like them, I wanted to be one of them. I just didn't know that this was what was going to become of it." Michael pauses. "Even if that wasn't the case, I don't think I could have left if I had wanted to do. It's like I was under his control."

As much as Mia wanted to be mad at Michael, she understood what he was talking about. She had felt the way that David had seemed to control her thoughts and motions on more than one occasion already. It was what had gotten her in this mess to begin with.

"This is just all so much." Mia collapsed on the tiled floor and buried her head in her hands. Mia would have rather found out that she had been drugged by them, anything else but this. Not this. She just didn't understand why her? Why Michael? Why not just...kill them? "What are we going to do?" She looked up at Michael.

"I don't know," Michael sighs as he sits down on the ground beside Mia. "Star didn't dwell much into the matter, but it sounds like there's no going back."

Upon the interactions that Mia had seen take place between David and Star, Mia knew that even if Star did know more than what she was letting on-which she undoubtedly did-she wouldn't tell Michael or Mia if David didn't want her to. As much as Mia never wanted to see David or the others again in her life, she knew that the only way to get the answers she needed would be to talk to them herself. Mia really didn't want to, she swore that she would stay away from them from now on, but she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't spend the rest of her life as a half-vampire!

"All I can think to do is go talk to them," Michael voiced Mia's thoughts and she nodded weakly. She really didn't want to do just that.

"I'm going to take a shower, try and clear my head, and then we can try to go find them." The mere thought of going to them after everything that had happened the night before made her sick to her stomach, but she didn't know what else to do. "I don't care what they say or do, I'm going to get answers from them." Mia doubted that that was true, but it made her feel slightly better by saying it.

 **~TLB~**

Mia thought she had been nervous the night before to go to the boardwalk, but it was nothing compared to how she felt tonight. She had taken as long as possible to get ready, trying as much as possible to prolong the inevitable, but she could only sit in her room so long before Michael started questioning what was taking so long.

"Michael." Mia whined as he stopped the bike and Mia got a big whiff of the people surrounding them. She could smell the blood pumping in their veins and it called out to her. The burn in her throat became stronger and she struggled to control herself. She could feel the ache in her teeth, and she could only imagine the fangs that were threatening to grow. How was she going to be able to deal with this?

"Breathe through your mouth," Michael murmured as Mia buried her head into Michael's back. She did as he said and it did help subside the pain in her mouth, but the thirst was still there.

"I'm going to go get some lemonade." Mia mumbles when she felt under control once more. She got up from the bike before Michael could protest and walked in the direction of the stall across the street. She was thankful to see that Michael stayed where he was and gave Mia space.

Mia didn't know what to do. She couldn't kill someone and turn into a vampire, but she also couldn't stay a half-vampire forever. She didn't want either option, but they were the only that she had. She would have to pick, or have it picked for her. Though she knew the option that would be taken if she didn't choose herself.

God, as much as she loved Santa Carla, she was beginning to wish that they had never moved here in the first place. She would have happily gave up the wild summer nights to be back in Phoenix. She would have been miserable, but she sure as hell wouldn't be having any fucking vampire problems.

Mia reached the lemonade stall and ordered a strawberry lemonade, her personal favorite. As she stood to the side to wait for her order, the guy beside her attempted to talk with her.

"You new in town?" He asked in a tone of what she assumed was supposed to be seductive. She rolled her eyes and attempted to ignore him. She was really not in the mood to deal with this right now. When he didn't get the response he wanted, the guy grabbed the crook of her arm. "Hey, dollface, I'm talking to you."

Mia didn't know if it was the stress of the day, or if it was the fact that she was now a half-vampire, but Mia suddenly lost it. Her hand whipped over and grabbed the collar of his shirt, moving faster than she had thought possible.

"Listen, asshole." Mia tightens her grip on his shirt. "First off, don't call me dollface," His eyes widened in fear as Mia used her other hand to poke his chest with each word she spoke. "Second off, don't you ever, ever touch me again or I will snap your fucking neck, you got it?" She cocks her head to the side awaiting his answer.

"Yes," He chokes out.

"Good." She smiles sweetly at him before letting his shirt go and turning around to pick up her lemonade. She took a sip of her beverage and turned to make her way back to Michael. God, she was such an emotional wreck. One second she felt like crying and the next second she felt nearly murderous. And she thought puberty had been hard.

Mia took another sip of her lemonade and crossed the street. She had hoped it would help to soothe her aching thirst, but it didn't seem that lemonade was what she was thirsting for. Mia nearly dropped the cup, however, when she found that Michael was no longer alone and four pairs of eyes were watching her with interest. Based on the amused smile on their faces, they had seen the whole scene mere seconds earlier.

She slowly approached the group, a mixture of feelings settling down inside her. She was scared of them, they were bloody vampires for god's sake, but she was also incredibly angry. They had done this to her, turned her life upside down without informing her of what was going on. She wanted to stay the hell away from them, but it seemed as if they weren't having that.

She was surprised to find another feeling whirling inside her, a deep, burning desire that struck her hard and fast. She had been attracted to them before tonight, but it was nothing like what hit her now. She wanted them, each of them, and this terrified the shit out of her.

"What did you do to me?" Mia ignores Michael and approaches David, who was leaning against the light pole smoking a cigarette.

Mia was angry, she really felt angry, but the moment she neared him and his scent hit her, she felt her heart flutter and that burning desire grow deeper inside her. He smelled so good, even better than the blood filling the veins of the people around them.

"I think you know, sweetheart," David smirks down at her, his free hand reaching down to play with a strand of her hair.

"You're one of us now!" Paul whoops as his arm snakes around her waist and he kisses Mia on the cheek.

Mia inhales sharply as Paul's scent fills her body and overwhelms her. She elbows her way out of his grasp and covers her nose. Her mouth began to ache, as her fangs once again threatened to come out. She tightly closes her eyes as she tries to regain control over herself.

"What's wrong with her?" Mia feels an arm wrap around her body and instantly knew that it was Michael as she was able to now recognize him by his smell. Although Mia was thirsty, Michael's blood didn't call out to her as much as the other's and she was able to stand the close contact with him. Mia buried her head into his chest in an attempt to block out everything that wasn't him.

She didn't understand it. Why did they smell so good to her? Better than every other person out on the boardwalk? Was it because they had turned her or was there a more hidden and sinister meaning behind it? Mia shuddered and thought maybe she didn't want to know after all.

"She's just hungry." She heard David say behind her, but he didn't sound like his normal, teasing self. "She needs to eat." David's tone was serious and Mia half expected to hear him growl. Though Mia couldn't figure out what had gotten him all riled up.

"That's not happening," Mia peeked her head out from Michael's chest to glare at David. "I didn't ask for this and I want you to change me back right now."

"Sorry, sweetheart, that's not going to happen." David smiled darkly at her, his previous anger all but gone.

"Come on, baby, I thought you liked us." Paul cooed as he reached for Mia, but she brought herself closer to her brother at the same time that Michael pulled her back a step. The dark and dangerous glint that crossed Paul's eyes as Michael moved her, terrified Mia. If she had been scared of them before tonight, it was nothing compared to what she felt now, knowing what they really were.

"It certainly seemed that way last night," Dwayne sent Mia an amused smile and when Mia caught his gaze, he winked.

Mia felt her face grow hot as she remembered last night's events. She had been appalled and embarrassed by her behavior earlier, but now knowing that that behavior had been mere seconds after she had drank their blood, she knew that they had to have done something to her. She would never, ever act that way around anyone, let alone a bunch of guys she barely knew and pretty much hated.

"I don't know what you did, but that wasn't me last night." Mia stepped away from her brother's grasp, but kept near him. He was the only thing that was keeping her grounded.

"Oh, but it was." David dropped his cigarette as he approached Mia and her heart started to speed up from part panic and part desire. "It brought out your deepest and darkest desires."

"Despite how much you try to hide it, you want us." Marko breathes in her ear and Mia nearly jumps at how close he was to her. She hadn't seen him approach her. With his sudden closeness, Mia could smell him and she shuddered as the burning thirst inside her intensified. She wanted to move away, but found she couldn't quite find the will.

"And we want you just as much," Dwayne purrs in her other ear and despite how much she tried to fight it, Mia felt fangs protrude from her mouth and strike her bottom lip.

Mia gasps and quickly pulls away from them, hiding her face as she did so. It didn't take long for Mia to regain her composure, but from their yells of excitement and laughter, Mia realized that they all knew what had just happened.

"Looks like it's feeding time!" Paul throws his fist up into the air as he yells, a wild glint in his eyes as he looked at Mia.

Mia's stomach dropped at his words. She didn't care how thirsty she was, she wasn't ever going to drink someone's blood, let alone drain them. "No!" Mia shouts, her eyes wide in horror. "I want to go home, Michael." All thoughts of getting answers from the boys were gone. She wanted out of here and away from them. She turns her head to Michael, hoping that he was just as appalled by the idea as she was, but was shocked to see the smile on his face and the bloodlust in his eyes. He seemed to be just as excited as they were.

"Come on, Mia, it's going to happen eventually." Michael reaches up to grab Mia's arm, but she pulls back at his words. This wasn't Michael. They had to be doing something with his head. Her Michael would never willingly want to kill someone and turn into a creature of the night. Her Michael would be just as appalled as she was.

"Mikey's right. You can't fight it forever." Marko grins at Mia's terrified state, reminding her of what he had said to her the night before. _Aw, you're cute when you're scared._ "Eventually you're gonna cave." No, she was not going to cave, not her.

"Initiation's over, sweetheart," David pushed Michael out of his way as he approached Mia once more. "It's time to join the club."

As David drew closer, Mia began to stumble backwards. His ambrosial scent began to fill her nose and she struggled to control herself once again. She needed to get out of here, get away from them before they convinced her to go through with their plans and Mia landed herself in a position worse than what she was already in.

Mia shook her head as she took another step back, struggling to breathe through her mouth to keep his scent at bay. Mia's movement was stopped when she felt her back hit someone's chest. Before she could move away, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and trapped her against him.

"C'mon baby, let's go for a ride."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm so, so sorry for the super late update. I hadn't met for it to drag out this long, but on top of school and a huge case of writer's block, it took a while for this chapter to be written. I'm not entirely happy with the flow of it, as this was written over the course of a few months during random points of inspiration, but I feel like I'm happy with where this chapter is heading, even if it's not entirely where it was originally heading.

I hope you enjoy the little tidbit delving more into the boys' point of view. I tried to keep everyone in character, but sometimes it's a little hard, so sorry if anyone feels out of character. I plan on including another small piece like it in the next chapter as well.

Also, like always, I do not own The Lost Boys, but only Mia and any other original characters that might pop up.

* * *

Everything had happened so fast. Mia barely had any time to register what was happening before she found herself on the back of Paul's motorcycle and racing to a place that she knew she really rather not. The boys yelled in excitement around her, laughed without a care in the world, but Mia felt her nerves intensify with every second. She knew where they were taking her, what they wanted her to do, and she was terrified.

As much as she was terrified, Mia also grew angry. She wasn't just angry at the boy whose chest her arms were currently wrapped around, or the other boys that kept shooting her wicked grins whenever they caught her eye, she was also very angry at herself. How did she ever believe that she could have gotten answers from them? It sure as hell hadn't worked out the night before, so what had gotten in her head to make her believe that it would work this time?

God, she was such a fucking idiot. Half-vampire or not, she should have stayed the hell away either way. Instead she had put herself in a situation that she knew would not end well. As much as she did not want to fully turn, Mia could feel and smell the blood of those around her and it was calling out to her. She knew that despite how strong she pretended to be she couldn't, wouldn't, last for long.

Paul's bike slowed to a stop next to the others before he helped her off with a playful smirk that Mia did her best to ignore. Mia opened her mouth to make some snarky remark about taking her home this instant, but before she could utter a single syllable, Paul's hand covered her mouth and stifled the words. He raised a finger to his mouth to motion for her to be quiet, that stupid smirk still dancing on his lips, before grabbing her wrist and dragging her towards the tree to their left.

The other boys, including Michael, were already hidden inside the tree when Paul and Mia approached. Upon hearing them approach, Dwayne looked back at Mia, a wild smile plastered on his face. Paul raised her arm towards him and Dwayne took her hand and pulled her up in the tree next to him. Mia's face grew hot as he wrapped an arm around her waist and her back was pushed against his chest. With such close contact, Mia was surrounded with Dwayne's scent. She bit down hard on her lower lip to keep thirst under control and her fangs away. God, how was she ever going to be able to stop herself from drinking if she could barely handle herself now?

In order to distract herself, Mia looked at the scene in front of her. A group of teenagers had set up a large bonfire and were mingling around it. Aerosmith played from a nearby boombox and while some teenagers sat around the fire drinking, there were several who danced around the orange and yellow flames. They were oblivious to the group hiding in the nearby tree and oblivious to the fact that they would all be dead in a matter of a few minutes.

Upon this realization, Mia began to truly panic. She didn't care how thirsty she was, she couldn't do what they wanted her to. This wasn't her; she wasn't a killer.

"No, no," She shook her head as her nerves intensified. "I won't do it. You can't make me." She struggled to get out of Dwayne's grasp and get away from them. Although she hadn't been standing very high in the tree, Mia's foot caught on a branch as she struggled to get away. Before she could fall and hit the ground, however, a pair of hands grasped her waist and gently dropped her to the ground.

"Where you going, sweetheart?" Mia's back was toward him, but she knew that it was David who had caught her. Her body trembled as his hands tightened their hold on her body. "You're not leaving are you? The fun hasn't even begun yet." She could feel his breath hot against her neck, making her heart race inside her chest. She had never been as frightened of him as she was now. His lips brushed her neck and she could feel the sharp tips of his fangs as he grazed them across her fragile skin.

Mia couldn't help herself at this point and a loud, piercing scream clawed its way out of her throat. His hand quickly clamped down on her mouth and smothered the scream, allowing her to hear the deep chuckle he let out. "Don't worry, sweetheart, you're not on the menu." His lips quickly brush the skin right below her left ear.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" David was torn off of Mia causing her to nearly scream again. She quickly turns around to see Michael, his face glowing with anger as he glared at the man who had just been holding her. "That's my sister, you fucking-" He attempted to throw a punch at David, but was pulled back by Marko and Paul just in time that his fist only hit air.

"Relax Michael, we're all friends here." David smiled down at Michael, but there was no mistaking the anger in David's eyes. "Mia and I were just having a little fun." Mia was too terrified to rebuke his statement.

"Enough with the games, I'm hungry." Marko pouts as he lets go of Michael and looks towards the partiers still oblivious to their group. Mia's fear intensified when he looked back towards the group with his face transformed into the monster that he really was. With a quick glance at the other three, she saw the same vampiric features had transformed their faces as well.

David leaned over to Michael to say something that Mia couldn't quite catch. Michael agreed to whatever David had requested as Mia saw him nod his head despite not seeming very happy about it.

"Let's eat, boys." David announces with a wicked grin causing the boys around her to let out excited whoops of laughter. With a single wink in Mia's direction David went off to feast on the teenagers in front of him with the others right on his tail.

Mia didn't know what to do. She wanted to run, run far away before she did anything she would instantly regret, but her legs seemed glued to the ground. She couldn't find it inside her to move, even once the screaming began. Her only relief at the moment was that Michael had not followed and stayed back with her. She caught his eyes, filled with confusion, as he approached her.

"Michael, what are you doing? I want to go home," Mia whines as he takes hold of her elbow and gently leads her towards the tree and not towards his bike. She didn't want to look at the scene on the other side.

"I think it's too late for us," Michael whispers as he peers through the branches and looks onward, but Mia only buried her head in his chest. The scent of their blood grew stronger as it was torn from their veins and Mia's body yearned for a taste. "The longer we go, the harder it's going to get."

"I can't," Mia shakes her head, further burying her head in his jacket as it gets harder for her to fight. The smell of blood only thickened with time and Mia was beginning to get thirstier by the second. If she didn't get away soon, she was going to give in.

"I know, but just think about it, Mia. You'll never grow old and you won't have anymore responsibilities." He paused for a moment to cover his nose and look away. "An eternity to do whatever the hell you want."

Mia would have been lying if she said that what Michael had said didn't sound amazing. It was a life that Mia desperately longed for, but she couldn't kill for it, could she? The thought of taking a life would have made her utterly sick if it didn't make her mouth water so much.

"Mia!" Mia didn't want to look when she heard one of the boys yell her name, but felt a hand grab her hand and drag her out of Michael's hands and out of the safety of the tree. "Don't worry, babe, we left some for you!" It was Marko who had grabbed her. She looked up to see his face still transformed and now blood covered. Mia had the sudden urge to start licking the blood off his face and struggled to keep herself under control.

Mia's eyes gazed over the scene around her. Dead bodies were strewn across the ground, their blood soaking into the dirt below them. The boombox had moved on to another Aerosmith song and seemed eerily out of place. She knew she should have been repulsed, but she couldn't find it in her to feel so. Their blood seemed to call out to her and she didn't know how much control she had left. Each passing second made it harder.

Marko led her to the bonfire where Dwayne and Paul held a guy with bleached hair. He struggled against them, but was no match for their strength. Mia knew what they wanted her to do, she knew she didn't want to do it, but she could smell the blood from the cut on his left cheek. It didn't smell nearly as good as David's, Paul's, Marko's, or Dwayne's blood, but it was damn close.

"Finish the ritual; be one of us." David breathed into her ear causing her to jump. She had been so transfixed with the boy in front of her that she hadn't heard nor seen him approach.

"No," Mia whispered, but she knew that it was only a matter or time. She was already imagining how his blood would taste on her lips and running down her throat.

Her gaze was broken as David's hand grabbed her chin and pulled it towards him. His face had returned to normal, but it was still covered in blood. Mia felt herself leaning in towards his face, the urge to taste the blood covering him nearly consuming her. David's face broke out in a grin at seeing Mia's reaction. He slowly lowered his face down towards her, as if to play with her, before finally closing the distance between them.

The moment that his lips touched Mia's and she had her first taste of the blood that covered them, her body began to move on its own accord and a low moan escaped her mouth. Her arms wrapped around his neck, burying themselves in his hair as she pulled him as close to her as she could. Her lips eagerly moved against his as she tried to get all the blood that she could, and she soon moved on past his lips to get at the rest. She could hear and feel his low chuckle at her movements and then felt his hands tightly grasp her hips as he pulled her lower body closer to him.

"Go feed, Mia," His breath was hot against her ear and the way he said her name sent a shiver down her spine. She slowly opened her eyes, lazily taking in the terrified boy over David's shoulder. His eyes, a dark brown, met her gaze and he began to struggle harder against the two that restrained him.

"No! Please no!" His pleas of mercy hit Mia hard and she suddenly found herself once again. This wasn't what she wanted, this wasn't her.

She pushed hard against David, quickly covering her nose with her hand. She needed to get out of here and quickly or she would succumb to her dark desires. Without a second thought to change her mind, Mia turned around and began to sprint in the opposite direction.

 **~TLB~**

To say the boys were pissed would have been an understatement. Long gone were the devilish smirks and playful attitudes. Those had been replaced with a rage that none of them had felt in a long time.

"Will someone shut him the fuck up?" David's voice was eerily calm as his icy eyes glared over at the last remaining human from the party they had just crashed. He was supposed to be Mia's first kill. He was supposed to be the one to finish the transformation for her. David shouldn't have been able to still hear his pitiful pleas for his life. They were not only a nuisance, but a reminder of how his plans had just been fucked up.

Marko was the first to react to David's command. A loud crack filled the air as his hands wrapped around the man's neck and snapped it as easily as if it were a twig. The man's pleas were cut off and a deadly silence filled the air.

"What the hell man?" It was Paul who broke the silence first. His eyes glowing with anger as he stalks towards Michael. "You were supposed to make sure shit like this didn't happen!" Paul's hand swung back as he prepared to punch Mia's twin, but was stopped when a cold hand grabbed his wrist.

"That's only going to make things worse." Paul glared back at Dwayne, who's hand still firmly grasped his wrist. "Hurting Michael will only make things worse. What do you think will happen if Mia found out?" Paul's glare didn't disappear, but his body did relax ever so slightly. He would never admit it out loud, but he knew that Dwayne was right. Mia put up more resistance than any human before her, but no human could resist the charm and persuasion of a vampire. They were so close to finally breaking Mia, and while hurting Michael would only delay the inevitable, all four of them were already tired of waiting. Dwayne felt the change in Paul's stance and released his hold.

"Dwayne's right," David grabbed a cigarette from out of his pocket and quickly lit it before taking a long drag. His lips curled into a sinister smile as he turned to Michael and slowly made his way to the younger boy. "Hurting Michael would hurt Mia, but if we were, so to say, hurt someone else..."

"Don't you dare lay a hand on her," Michael snapped. It didn't take much for him to figure out who David was insinuating about."You gave me your word that if I would help you get Mia then you would let Star be."

"Yeah, well, you fucked up, didn't you?" David's shoulders shrugged as he spoke, showing that he didn't care about the brunette's well being at all. He took another drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke in Michael's face causing him to grimace.

Michael narrowed his eyes at David, waving away the smoke. He refused to back down despite the fact that David could easily take him down and that he was vastly outnumbered. He didn't like the way that the boys in front of him seemed to be obsessed with his sister. He didn't like the way that they played with her, looked at her, and especially not how they touched her, but they had all promised him that he could have Star, he could protect Star, if he would help them bring Mia into their little gang. He hadn't wanted to agree, but they had promised that nothing would happen to Mia and began to threaten Star's well being until he complied to their wishes.

"It's not my fault she bolted! You're the one who had his hands all over her at the time." Michael face's drew up in slight disgust at the scene he had watched unfold between his twin and David. While he could care less who Mia got herself involved with, he sure as hell didn't want to watch it happen, least of all with any of the guys present. "Why do you care so much about her? I'm sure there are plenty of girls in Santa Carla who would gladly let you turn them, so why pick my sister?" It was a question that Michael had asked himself many times in the past few days and one that he knew wouldn't leave Mia's head as well. He had tried to get the answer out of Star but her lips had been locked tight.

"You're kidding, right?" Marko scoffed in disbelief at Michael's words. "C'mon man, have you not smelled your sister's blood?"

Michael would have been lying if he said that Mia's blood wasn't the sweetest he had smelled in his short time of being a half-vampire. He would also have been lying if he said he hadn't been tempted on more than one occasion to taste it. He hadn't thought that it was something out of the ordinary though, just the new basics instincts that had begun taking over It also didn't answer why the boys seemed to be so obsessed with turning her into a creature of the night. While the thought disturbed him greatly, Michael wondered why they didn't just kill her if she smelled so good. It didn't make sense to turn her.

"You're wasting our time, Michael," David rolled his eyes at he stopped the conversation from continuing. He didn't like how the boy was trying to dig into his business. If it wasn't for the fact that he was Mia's brother, he would have never turned him. "Now why do you make yourself useful and come invite us to your house?"

 **~TLB~**

Mia ran until her lungs burned and her legs felt as if they were on fire. She ran until she felt as if she could run no longer. Her eyes constantly shifted behind, each time certain that she would see them coming after her, but all she ever saw was darkness.

Mia didn't allow herself to slow down until the boardwalk came back into view, and didn't slow down to a walk until her feet the wooden planks and she was once again among the people of Santa Carla. It wasn't until Mia had navigated her way through most of the ground and gotten towards the middle of the boardwalk that she allowed herself to stop and catch her breath.

She collapsed on an empty bench beside a food stand and buried her head in her hands as she struggled to catch her breath and stop the tears that were threatening to break through. She was horrified with herself. For that split second, Mia knew that she was going to kill him without a doubt. She had lost all control over her body and mind. She had let herself succumb to the darkness that David and the others were so eager to lead her towards.

"Dammit," Mia choked out as the tears she tried so hard to keep locked away finally broke through. She furiously wiped at her eyes, but they kept coming. All the emotions that she had let build up inside her over the past few days finally overwhelmed her. No matter how hard she tried, she was under the power of her emotions and she couldn't stop the tears from flowing. "Dammit, dammit, dammit."

She hated them, she knew she did, especially after all the shit they had put her through, but her body reacted in a way that betrayed her hatred. All it took was one single brush of contact and it sent her entire body yearning, left her mind in a tizzy. It was only her sure willpower that kept her from bending to all of their dark desires, from keeping her from acting like she had after she drank their blood.

Another wave of tears flowed through her and left her shuddering as she once again realized what she had actually drank the night before. She just didn't understand why they had chosen to change her when they could have easily killed her like the ones she had watched them slaughter tonight. What made her different? What made her special? She had went out tonight to demand answers, but all that she was left with was a close and almost final transformation.

"Are you okay?"

Mia jumped when a hand tentatively touched her shoulder. The first thoughts running through her head were that they had found her and were going to drag her back to finish the deed. She instantly recoiled from the hand as her eyes take in the person in front of her, ready to fight with all she had to stop that from happening.

"Whoa!" The person stepped back at Mia's sudden movements and retreated his hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Mia's body relaxed ever so slightly as she realized that the young man standing in front of her was none of the four boys she had originally thought. "It's fine," She quickly wiped at the tears on her face as she took his figure in. She was too tired to make a snappy remark about his past actions.

"Rough night?" He asked once Mia had voiced no words on him leaving her alone. Mia looked him straight in his eyes, a dark chocolate brown, but found no dark desires hidden in them, just honest sympathy.

"What made you think that?" Mia couldn't stop herself from the sarcastic response as she ran a hand through her hair. "The crying or the cursing?" The tears had finally stopped, but Mia could only imagine the giant mess she was at the moment.

"I'm Jonathan," Jonathan ignored Mia's sarcasm and held out his hand for her to shake. Mia's brow quirked at the motion and she once again took in Jonathan's face, but was only met with an honest smile.

"Mia," Mia sighed before shaking his hand. Once she released it, he collapsed down on the bench beside her.

"I've not seen you around here before. You just visiting?" His arm rested against the back of the bench as he propped his head up to get a better look at her. "I think I'd remember seeing a face like yours."

"It's going to take a lot more than that to impress me," Mia scoffs at Jonathan's attempt at flirting, but a small smile escapes despite her annoyance. She mimicked Jonathan's pose and props her own head to interact better with the boy. "My family moved to Santa Carla a few days ago, though."

"And what made you pick the Murder Capitol of the World?" Jonathan's eyes sparkled with playful amusement, but Mia still flinched at the use of words.

"It houses the only relative that would take us in after my parents' divorce."

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Jonathan's smile disappeared at Mia's words, but Mia shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to act like she didn't care anymore when that was a complete lie.

"Don't apologize for something you had nothing to do with." The biting comment came out before Mia could stop it, but she didn't really regret it either. She had just grown so tired of the way that everyone always apologized to her. As if they were truly sorry that her father was a lying, cheating whore.

Jonathan opened his mouth to reply, but thought better of it and promptly closed his mouth.

"I'm sorry, it's just been a really rough night," Mia sighs before collapsing her head into her hands. Rough didn't even begin to cover the hell that she had experienced in the past few hours, nor the past few days either.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Mia jumped once more as she felt Jonathan's hand tentatively touch her shoulder causing him to slowly withdraw his hand. She fought to not make a snarky remark about him not knowing how to keep his hands to himself because she knew that he was just trying to help even if she wished he would just leave her alone.

"Not really, no," Mia mumbled without looking back up at the boy. How did she explain that she had been turned into a half-vampire without her knowledge and just about completed the transition mere minutes earlier by taking a life? He would think she had lost her mind, and hell, she wouldn't blame him. Just two days ago she had thought that Edgar and Alan Frog were crazy for claiming that they were vampire hunters, and now she was on the way to becoming one. "I just need to get back home." Perhaps once she was back in the safety of the house, she could try to come up with a plan on what to do. Too bad her ride was gone and she had no way of getting back home. She would have to call her mother and that was the last thing she wanted to do to her. Mia sat up and ran her hands through her hair. "Do you know where the nearest payphone is?"

"It's just down the street, but if you need a ride home, I'd be more than happy to take you." Jonathan pointed in the direction, but his brown eyes tried to catch Mia's.

"No, that's okay." Mia stood up, refusing to meet the boy's eyes. This was the last thing she needed at the moment, more involvement with another boy. Besides, the thought of David, Paul, Dwayne, and Marko seeing her in contact with another boy made her stomach twist in fear. Who knows what they might do to her, to him. It may be all a facade, but Mia truly knew that Jonathan didn't deserve what he would get if he tried to get involved with Mia's life.

"Really, it would be no problem at all." Jonathan stood up next to her. He looked like he was about to touch her again, but refrained from doing so.

Mia opened her mouth to once again refuse the boy's request, but then stopped once another thought came to her mind. By refusing the ride home, she was allowing David and the others to have control on her actions. She had had enough of that during her relationship with Nick, so why would she allow herself to once again fall into it? Pushing away the thoughts that screamed at her to stop what she was about to do because it might put her and the other boy in danger, Mia allowed a small smirk to cross her lips.

"Alright, Jonathan, I give in. A ride home would be wonderful."

She just hoped that she wouldn't live to regret it.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Once again, sorry for the slow update. I had a bad case of writer's block once again. I'm pretty excited for where the next chapter will go though, so hopefully it won't be as long as a wait as this one was.

Also, I hope you guys enjoy the different points of view in this chapter as well. I try to keep everyone in character as best as I can, but I know that I've probably failed, so I'm sorry about that. Also, sorry about any grammar mistakes in this chapter and in any of the previous chapters. When I have time, I'll try to go back and fix some of them.

Just like always, I don't own The Lost Boys, but only Mia and any the other original characters that might make an appearance.

* * *

"Thanks for the ride." Mia said when Jonathan pulled up to Mia's new home and turned off his bike. She had been nervous when Jonathan had brought her up to his bike, thoughts of all the rides she had taken with _them_ during her stay clawing back into her mind. Once again, the voice in her head told her she was making a mistake, but she had shut it down and carefully sat down behind the boy.

"It was no problem at all," Jonathan smiles at Mia as she stood up and dismounted the bike, her arms releasing their loose grip around his waist. While Mia found Jonathan rather attractive in her eyes, his touch felt only wrong and uncomfortable. As much as she wanted to dismiss these feelings towards fear of the boys finding out about Jonathan, she knew that deep down, that wasn't it. Despite this, Mia couldn't help but deeply yearn for the brief normalcy that Jonathan brought back into her life. "My brother always did say I was addicted to damsels in distress." His smile dropped ever so slightly at the frown that crossed Mia's lips at this statement. She quickly turned her face towards the house as she awkwardly pulled the leather jacket Jonathan had loaned her for the ride closer to her body. It smelled only of the cologne he was wearing, leaving a strange pit in her stomach. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Mia's body tensed when Jonathan stepped off his bike and walked up next to her, his hand gently touching her shoulder and she resisted the urge to shrug his hand off. While she knew she should reduce contact with Jonathan as much as possible, she found it hard to keep away despite the strange uneasiness his touch brought. She knew that she was putting Jonathan in danger by allowing him to continue getting closer to her, but she found herself in some foreign stage of limbo. While his touch and presence only brought the strange sense of disgust, he was the type of man that Mia had always yearned for.

"I'm fine." Mia nodded her head, daring a brief look into Jonathan's eyes. Oh, how she wished things could have been different. "I should probably go." She motioned towards the house. While not wanting to seem rude, she also wished to just never see Jonathan again. Even if she wanted to create some sort of relationship with him, it would never work. She was half-vampire now, and if David and the others didn't hurt him, she would. "Thank you again for bringing me home." She shrugged out of his jacket before handing it back to him with another thank you.

"Will I get to see you again?" Jonathan took Mia's hints and made his way back to his bike and sat down. He looked expectantly back up at her, awaiting an answer.

"I guess we'll just have to see." Mia tried to smile, but it felt forced. She would not be seeing the boy again if she could help it. It was just too dangerous for her to get close with him. She should have never even let him bring her home. "Good night, Jonathan."

Jonathan seemed a bit saddened by Mia's vague answer, but he returned her farewell before starting up his bike and disappearing down the road. Despite the fact that Mia knew she was finally alone, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. A shiver went down her spine as the thought of David or one of the others seeing her with Jonathan. What would happen if they found out? She sure as hell didn't want to find out what they might do to him, or even her. Her eyes scanned the scene around her, but saw no one. While the feeling made her uncomfortable, she knew that it was probably just her nerves getting to her. If they were out there, Mia new that they would have made an appearance. While Mia didn't know exactly what their feelings or interests were towards her, it would not have been likely that any one of them would have sat back and allowed the previous scene to happen. With a soft sigh, Mia turned away from where Jonathan had disappeared and headed inside the house. What she needed was a long, deep sleep. One that allowed her to forget how shitty her life had suddenly gotten since coming to Santa Carlo.

The inside of the house was dark and quiet. The only noise coming from the soft ticking of the clock in the living room. It was just past midnight and Mia knew that all the occupants in the house were currently asleep and she couldn't wait to join them.

She walked up the stairs as quietly as she could, cringing as one of the steps creaked loudly underneath her. The last thing she needed was to wake her mother up and then be questioned on why she was alone and how she got home and if she was feeling okay. While Mia loved her mother's concern for her, at least most of the time anyways, now was not the time for an interrogation. How did she explain to her mother that she had gotten roped into the schemes of a group of local vampires intent with turning her into one as well?

Once Mia got to the top of the stairs, she bypassed her bedroom and went straight to the bathroom. A hot bath sounded heavenly to her at the moment, but her yearning desire to sleep topped it. Instead, Mia settled for washing the makeup that had ran from crying off her face. She cringed upon seeing her original reflection in the mirror. How Jonathan had ever found her attractive while eyeliner and mascara had smudged her cheeks in black, she would never understand. Feeling slightly better with removing the trace of her earlier breakdown, Mia quickly removed the pair of jeans she had been wearing and made her way to her bedroom. She was looking forward to a long night's sleep and then she would spend the following day trying to figure out what to do. Whatever she did though, she would make sure to be in the house the moment the sun went down. She didn't quite know the rules of vampires, but she supposed that it couldn't hurt to try and stay indoors. It was the only option that she had at the moment.

With the thought of creating distance between her and the boys putting her temporarily at ease, Mia collapsed on her bed and prayed for sleep to come and take away her worries. Whatever happened, she would get out of this mess. She had to.

 **~TLB~**

"Who the hell was that?" With speed much faster than humanly possible, David's hand found its way around Michael's throat as he pushed him back against a nearby tree. All earlier thoughts of not harming Michael were gone at the sight of seeing Mia getting a ride with another man. It didn't matter that he had just seen her gently reject the boy's subtle advances. What mattered was that no one quite seemed to understand that Mia belonged to David and his brother's now. Who knows how long Mia had been fraternizing with him or where the relationship was going to. The mere thought of her hands around his waist sent waves of anger coursing through him.

"I don't know," Michael managed to choke out as his fingers frantically scratched at the hand around his throat, but his strength was no match for the vampire's. "I've never seen him before." Despite the honesty behind Michael's answer, David's hand tightened ever so slightly and he let out a low growl.

"David," Dwayne spoke lowly, issuing a soft warning to the blonde. There was no denying that Dwayne was just as pissed as David was, but he was able to stay calm enough to realize that they shouldn't be taking their anger out on Michael. Out of all of them, Dwayne was always the one best at staying calm and reigning in the other boys' actions.

David let out another frustrated growl, but eventually released his grip on Michael. They all knew the damage that would be done to the fragile relationship they had managed to form with the girl that seemed to haunt all of their minds. "If I ever see him again, I'm going to fucking kill him." His eyes glanced towards the direction that the boy had just left in. A part of him wanted to chase after him and do just that, but a larger part of him wanted to go have a little talk with Mia and make sure she understood that she belonged to him and his brothers now. His eyes turned back towards Michael who was looking at David warily as he rubbed the area where David's hands had been. A bruise was already starting to form causing David to frown. He didn't doubt that Mia would know what had happened and their already fragile relationship would become even more so. "Now why don't you lead the way inside before I change my mind, hm?"

Michael narrowed his eyes at David, but eventually turned around and started walking towards the front door of the house. Either he did it willingly or they would bring Star into it and that was the last thing that Michael wanted. While Michael was fairly confident that they wouldn't hurt Mia, he couldn't say the same about Star. He didn't quite understand or know what they felt towards Mia, but he did know that Star was nothing more than a passing toy, something a passing phase of boredom had caused. All four of them couldn't care less what happened to her now, but that didn't mean Michael didn't. He didn't know what it was about Star that attracted him so much to her, but he knew that he would do everything in his power to protect her.

Reluctantly, Michael opened the front door to his grandfather's house before stepping inside. Turning around, he held the door open wide for his companions, but none of them made any move to follow.

"Aren't you going to invite us inside?" David drawls with a smirk plastered across his face.

Michael's hand tightens on the door at David's words and the thought of closing it ran through his mind. Perhaps they were unable to enter a house without an invitation. Michael was fairly sure that he had heard something like that before from a movie or comic book and perhaps the rumors were true. Perhaps all he had to do was close the door and he and his sister would be safe for the time being. Before he could follow through with the plan though, Paul's hand stopped the door from swinging shut.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Paul stepped one foot over the threshold as if only to prove Michael's earlier thoughts wrong. They could very much enter the house if they wanted to.

"Don't test us, Michael." David's smile had disappeared as he locked eyes with Michael. "We're just trying to be polite here."

Michael met David's stare, wanting desperately to stand up to him, but looked away in defeat after a few seconds. If he didn't do what they wanted, he knew that they would make sure he payed for it. "You can come in."

"See how much easier things are when you cooperate?" David grins as he slowly steps into the house and past Michael with the other three following behind. "We always get what we want, so the less you fight, the less people tend to get hurt."

"Oh and for future reference, Mikey," Marko stops and puts a hand on Michael's shoulder as he steps inside and Michael closes the door. "Never invite a vampire into your house."

"Marko's right," Paul seemed in a much better mood after getting his way. He stops at the mirror by the door to check his reflection. "It'll only end up rendering you powerless." He shoots Michael a dark smile through the mirror. Michael swallows uncomfortably at seeing the vampire's reflection. What had he done?

"But-" Michael stutters as he tries to process the information being given all too late. He knew that something as simple as them wanting an invitation held a more sinister reason than what they had originally let on, but he hadn't thought that something as simple as an invitation could have been this powerful.

"We can enter any house we want, but an invitation gives us protection." Dwayne explains further as he investigates one of Michael's grandfather's taxidermy pieces after sending a triumphant smirk back at Michael.

"Thanks for the warning, then." Michael mutters back in annoyance, but either they didn't hear him or they chose to just ignore them as they made their way further into the house. Michael was fairly certain it was the latter.

As the boys made their way up the stairs, Michael was a bit alarmed to see that they knew where they were going. His fear dissipated slightly when he realized that they were just following Mia's scent. There were traces of it throughout the house, lingering on various objects that Mia had touched, but it was nothing compared to the smell that was coming from her bedroom. It was easily the strongest scent out of all the inhabitants, but Michael was surprised to realize that his mother's was nearly as empowering as his sister's making Michael's mouth watered ever so slightly at the mixture of the two. What was with their blood?

"Do you really think this is necessary?" Michael's questions disappeared as the five of them approached their destination at the end of the hall. His voice was barely above a whisper as he became wary of waking up the other inhabitants of the house. "I can talk to Mia in the morning, get this all sorted out-" He really didn't want to know what was about to happen when they got to Mia.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but Mia doesn't really seem to listen to anything you tell her to do." There was no denying the annoyance in David's voice as he interrupted Michael.

 _She's not too keen on listening to any of you either._ Michael wanted to bite back, but couldn't find the courage to do so. He didn't understand how Mia could act so defiant when she knew what they were, what they could do to her. He only wished that he could share in her strength.

Sensing no more defiance from Michael, David took a hold of the doorknob to Mia's bedroom and silently swung the door open. When there was no sound or movement that followed, David realized that Mia had already fallen asleep which caused him to slightly begin to rethink his plans. He knew that waking her up would be simple, but he wasn't sure if that's what he really wanted to do when he ventured further into the bedroom and saw her sleeping form. With the curtains to the window drawn open, she laid bathed in moonlight which cast an almost ethereal glow to her body. While calm at the moment, she seemed to have had a restless sleep as her blankets had been tossed around leaving much of her body exposed, much to David's delight, including one of her long, tan legs. He could just make out the hem of the red pair of underwear she was wearing. The slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed soon caught David's attention and his eyes shamelessly took in the outline of her breasts beneath the thin shirt she wore. The thought of biting the tender skin of the inside of her thigh or the supple skin of one of her breasts flashed through his mind and caused a new wave of thirst to go through him. He may have just drank his fair share of blood earlier, but the thought of tasting her blood nearly caused him to lose control then and there.

His brothers seemed to be in a similar mindset as they silently approached her sleeping figure, each one taking in his fair share of Mia's current state of dress and unawareness. A smirk soon found its way on David's mouth as he imagined the state Mia would be in if she knew what was happening. He could almost hear the angry annoyance in her voice and see the narrowing of her eyes and the downward twist of her lips as she tried to hide the reddening of her cheeks.

"Can you stop eye-fucking my sister in front of me?" Michael loudly whispered breaking the trance that they all seemed to be in as he pushed his way past them and cautiously did his best to cover his sister back up without waking her up. Once her body was almost entirely underneath the blankets, he turned back around. "It's disgusting."

"Do we have to wake her up?" Marko ignored Michael's complaints as he looked at David expectantly.

David didn't answer as he watched Dwayne move part of Mia's hair behind her ear leaving part of her slender neck exposed. he had to quickly bite down on the corner of his lip as he once again fought the urge to finally have a taste of her blood.

"Dude, look at these!" Paul quietly exclaimed as he turned around with lacy black bra and matching thong in his hands.

"What the hell man?" Michael seemed even more mortified than he had been earlier as he quickly snatched them both from Paul's hands and back in the open drawer they had come from. He promptly closed the drawer, but not before Paul could quickly snatch the thong and put it in his pocket without Michael's knowledge. David fought back a chuckle as Paul's playful eyes met his own.

"Nick!" David's playful mood was cut short as he heard the name that escaped Mia's mouth. The thought of it being the man he saw her with earlier sending a fresh wave of anger through him. "Nick, stop!" David's anger was stifled ever so slightly as he heard the rising panic in her voice. While still asleep, he could make out the rapid movement of her eyes beneath her eyelids and one of legs kicked out back from underneath the blankets as she began to move restlessly once more. She began to mumble more words, but they were too soft and jumbled for David to really understand.

"Who's Nick?" It was Dwayne who spoke first. His voice stayed eerily calm as he looked expectantly at Michael.

It took Michael a few seconds to respond. "Her ex-boyfriend."

David noticed the way Michael tensed up as he replied, though not from fear but anger. "Didn't like him, huh?" David found the anger boiling in him once more, but not quite at the thought of Mia being with another man.

"Not particularly, no."

David's frown disappeared as an idea started forming in his head. A sly smile tugged at his mouth as the idea continued to take shape in his mind. If he was getting the right vibe about this man, which he was almost certain he was, then he might just be what him and his brothers needed at the moment.

"Michael, I think Mia's got something she wants to tell Nick, don't you think?"

"What are you talking about?" Confusion crossed Michael's face at David's words.

"I think we should give Nick a call and tell him to get his ass down to Santa Carla. I got a favor I need to ask of him."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm so sorry that this update took a long time. I hadn't expected it to take this long. I knew the general idea I wanted to take for this chapter, but was unsure on how exactly I wanted the last part to take place. Hopefully the next few chapters won't be much longer of a wait as I have a relative idea of how I want them to go, but no promises.

On another note, I want to thank all the positive feedback I've received on this story. I can't believe that this has gone as well as it has. (Almost 200 follows! XD) It always makes my day when I get a follow, a favorite, or a review. You all are so sweet and I can't express my gratitude enough.

Also, as always, I do not own The Lost Boys only Mia and any OC's that might pop up.

* * *

"Rough night?"

Mia looked up from the coffee she was currently nursing as Edgar and Alan Frog sat down at the table across from her. Each held their own drink in their hands, though neither held a cup of coffee like herself. Perhaps, they hadn't reached that certain point in time where coffee became a staple in everyday life. Mia couldn't remember the last time she had started her day without her reliable cup of coffee, loaded with enough vanilla creamer and sugar to keep the bitter taste of coffee away. Even now as a half-vampire, Mia still craved the caffeinated beverage.

"That's an understatement." Mia sat down her coffee as she ran a hand through her disheveled curls as if to attempt to tame them. She had tried not to think about the events that had transpired last night, but they came rushing back with every whiff of blood that crept inside her nose. She could still taste the blood from David's lips creating sensations throughout her body that left her hot and frazzled inside. "Is it that noticeable?" Mia took another long drink of her coffee, but it did little to quench her growing thirst. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew that she wouldn't last too much longer, especially if she found herself around any of the four boys who's blood sent her whole body yearning.

"You've definitely had better days," Alan remarks causing Mia to quickly narrow her eyes at him. "Ow! I'm just kidding!" He yelps when Mia gives him a good hard kick to the shin beneath the table. She knew that she looked like shit, but that didn't give either of the boys an excuse to say so.

Mia's only response was a small, coy smile as she did her best to keep from giggling. While she had originally wanted to turn down the two boys' request for lunch, she was glad that she had decided to come. Sure, the glaring sun was already beginning to give her a throbbing headache and the smell of blood was nearly overwhelming, but it was nice to have a small piece or normality back in her life. It was nice to feel human once again.

"So, what's the occasion?" Mia asks after the waitress came by and handed her the sandwich she had ordered earlier. While she was happy to enjoy Santa Carla without fear of running into any vampires, she was intrigued, if not a bit confused, as to why they had invited her out and not her younger brother. Sam was the one who knew nearly everything there was to know about comic books. That was a world that Mia was completely clueless in. Perhaps they had taken her up on her offer on talking about music. Now that, Mia could talk about for hours.

"We were bored." Edgar shrugged his shoulders before taking a bite out of his own food.

"All out of vampires to hunt?" Mia did her best to keep her voice from cracking and make it seem lighthearted. With an attempt of carefully flashing them what she could only hope would be a teasing smile, Mia hoped they wouldn't see through her ruse. While, Mia did take up their invitation as a means of distraction, the thought of questioning the brothers on their knowledge of vampires had crossed her mind more than once. It was the perfect chance for Mia to get more information on her current plight and perhaps find a way back to humanity. All she had to do was keep her cool and hope they didn't catch on. She didn't want to think what they might try if they found out that she was no longer completely human herself. Would they still stop at no lengths to kill her even if they were friends? She certainly hoped so.

"Oh, we know they're out there." Alan seemed unfazed by Mia's question and didn't even look up at her as he answered her question completely serious. If Mia wasn't currently half-vampire she would have thought he was crazy like she had just a few short days ago. Now, his statement only left her with a foreign sense of dread.

"It's finding them that's the hard part." Edgar adds. Unlike his brother, Edgar gave Mia a passing glance, but Mia didn't think he looked suspicious.

"And how do you do that? Throw holy water at everyone you see?" Mia wondered how much of the lore she knew about vampires was actually true. Did holy water truly burn their skin? Was the only way to kill them with a wooden stake to the heart? Did these rules even apply to her if she wasn't fully a vampire yet? The sun did give her a terrible headache, but it didn't burn her skin. But what about the others? There was so much that she didn't know as the vampires intent on turning her didn't seem too keen on sharing this knowledge with her.

"Only if you want to get yourself killed." Edgar looks up at Mia as if she were stupid. But she didn't blame him, she was nearly clueless in this field of conversation. "The most important part of hunting the undead is to not let them know you're hunting them."

"The moment they know you know..." Alan swipes his finger under his throat, mimicking the act of cutting it. "Secrecy is everything."

"You've got to get close enough to test them," Edgar set down his sandwich. "Put a little garlic in their food, switch out their glass of water with some holy water, get a mirror, but don't ever invite them in your house."

"Why's that?" Mia couldn't hide her interest. Her food lay forgotten on the table as she rest her head in her hands listening to every word the two boys had to say. She would need all the information she could get if she hoped to keep David and the others off her back while she came up with a plan.

"Vampires can enter any house they want, but the minute they're invited inside one, you're screwed. An invitation protects them."

"Protects them how?"

"It makes them seem like their human again. Holy water and garlic have no negative effect on them and their reflections will be visible in mirrors once again."

Mia leaned back in her seat as her brain processed the information. Now that was a useful piece of information to have. Perhaps she could trick Sammy into inviting her inside their house so she could stop having to avoid the mirrors around him and their mother. It was a little disappointing to know that they could still enter her house without an invite, but at least she could still protect herself if the boys ever decided to come looking for her. As long as she didn't invite them inside, she would be okay. "How'd you guys learn all this?"

"Rumors fly around in this town, but most of it's from comic books like the one we gave your brother."

"Comics?" Mia couldn't help but to quirk her eyebrow in disbelief at Alan's answer. She couldn't help but begin to doubt everything they had told her so far. Sure, vampires did exist, but there was no way that all their secrets existed in comics. But then again, what else did she have at this moment? She sure as hell wasn't going to be getting information elsewhere. Perhaps she should give that comic back home a good look through.

"You may not believe us now, but just give it a few years. There's a reason people call Santa Carla the Murder Capital of the World."

It took all of Mia's strength to keep from shivering at Alan's last statement. How long had David, Paul, Dwayne, and Marko been vampires? How many people had they killed since? Mia didn't get a good look at the amount of people at the party last night, but she didn't doubt that the four of them killed at least ten. And that was just one feeding.

"If you say so," Mia managed to choke out before busying herself with her sandwich. She had to stop thinking about it, about them, or she was going to make herself sick if she trailed on those thoughts anymore. She could only hope that neither boy was beginning to see how much their statements bothered her. She couldn't let them know that she believed them, and that she was terrified of what might happen to her in the pending future.

Thankfully neither boy saw through Mia's ruse and the conversation soon flowed into lighter topics much to Mia's relief. While the two Frog brothers were a few years younger than her, Mia truly did enjoy their company. Sure, their age showed every now and then through their immaturity, but they did have more similar interests than just music. They helped Mia forget all her troubles for just a little bit and relax. Something she hadn't been able to do in a while.

Conversation continued on for another hour or so, before the brothers decided that they needed to head back to their shop and open up for the day. While Mia was slightly sad to say goodbye to the two boys, she realized that it was about time for her to go as well. Her mother got off work in a little bit and Mia was supposed to be riding back to the house with her. She wasn't taking any chances of getting caught in Santa Carla when the sun went down. Instead, she would take the time to look through Sam's comic and hopefully find answers to her predicament if not how to reverse her transition into a vampire. She needed to do it soon too because she didn't know how much longer she would last.

* * *

"Max is coming over for dinner?" Mia tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice, but she was pretty sure she failed when her mother flashed her a sharp look from where she was sauteing vegetables on the stove top. Mia had wandered downstairs at the smell of something wonderful cooking, but her excitement had dissipated when she learned that her mother's boyfriend was coming over to eat with them.

"I know you don't particularly like him, Mia, but I do. I'm-"

"Mom, I know," Mia couldn't help the guilt that began to build up inside her. After everything that had happened with their father in the past year, she knew that her mother deserved to get out again, to find a guy that made her happy. She just wished that it was with someone else besides Max. Mia didn't know why she disliked Max so. There wasn't anything he had done that made her do so, but she always got this weird vibe from him every time she was around him. She didn't know what it was, but she was pretty sure Max was hiding something, something big. "And I'm happy for you, I really am. It's just going to take some time getting use to it."

"So that means you'll be at dinner?" Lucy looked over hopefully at Mia, a small smile beginning to show on her face.

"Yes." Mia rolled her eyes and tried to keep her own smile at bay. She didn't want to eat with them tonight and she could already feel the awkwardness that it was sure to include, but anything was better than going out tonight. "I'll give him another chance," It grew harder for her to not smile at the excited look her mother was giving her. "but no promises."

"That's all I'm asking," Lucy's mood seemed to grow with Mia's reply. As much as Mia didn't like Max, she was glad that he made Lucy so happy. It had been so long since she had seen her mother in such high spirits over a boy.

"So, what can I do to help then?"

Lucy put Mia in charge of the vegetables, so that she could get started on the bread. Mia made idle conversation with her mother as the two cooked, but she made sure to quickly avoid any conversation that would lead to David and the others. She could tell that her mother was curious, but Mia gently shut down any questions that would lead to them. When Lucy realized that Mia didn't want to talk about it, she stopped her questions.

"Something smells good. When do we eat?" Their conversation was stopped when Mia's grandfather walks into the kitchen. He stopped and looked over Mia's shoulders to get a good look at the food.

"I told Max that dinner was at eight." Lucy answers

"Max? You mean we're having company again?" Mia couldn't help but crack a smile at her grandfather's words. At least she wasn't the only one not entirely happy about having Max over for dinner.

"Again? Dad, you've not had company since Mom died eight years ago. Mia, be a dear and set this on the table." Lucy hands Mia the plate of bread and motions to the doorway that lead to the dining room.

"Right, and now we're having company again. I'll take mine to go." He replies before grabbing a piece of bread off of the plate Mia was holding and walking off to his taxidermy room causing her to giggle slightly. Her grandfather sure was a strange man.

Mia follows her mother's request and went to put the bread on the table when she saw Michael walk into the room. Mia glanced at her twin, but didn't say anything. After her initial breakdown following last night's events, Mia was once again reminded how most of this was all Michael's fault. She hadn't seen him since she ran last night and she was glad for it. She didn't want to see or speak to him at the moment, but that was a tad hard when you lived in the same house.

"You going out tonight?"

"Nope." Mia doesn't look up at Michael as she replies. Perhaps if she made it clear how pissed off she was at him, he would leave her alone for the time being. She made to move back to the kitchen, but was stopped when Michael grabs her by the crook of her elbow.

"They're going to be pissed if you don't."

"They can go to hell for all I care." Mia narrowed her eyes at Michael and made to move out of his grip when her eyes caught the faint bruising circling his neck. She tried to ignore the fear crawling up her spine as she moved to get a closer look at the bruising, but was unable to keep it at bay. Michael flinched back when Mia's fingertips softly brushed one of the bruises. "Did they do this to you?" All anger towards her brother disappeared as the realization of what had happened hits her. She had forgotten that Michael was just as much the victim as she was. "Was this because of me?"

Michael turned his head away, though not before Mia could read the truth in his eyes. He wasn't going to admit it, but Mia knew it was. She hadn't done what they wanted her to do and Michael had paid the price for it.

"Michael, I'm so sorry." Her hand reached for his shoulder. While Michael still refused to look at her, he didn't brush off her touch. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him, Michael."

"They saw you with that boy last night, the one who gave you a ride home."

Mia could feel her stomach drop at the words Michael had just spoke. How? When? Her hand tightened its grip on his shoulder to keep herself from collapsing as her legs suddenly felt useless. She shouldn't have let him take her home. She had been selfish last night and now Jonathan was going to pay the price if he hadn't already. "Is he...is he dead?" When Michael shook his head, Mia could have cried she was so relieved. The dread creeping up her spine slowly disappeared and she felt as if she could breathe once more. "Oh, thank god."

"They weren't happy about it though," Michael rubbed at the bruises on his neck and Mia's stomach dropped once more when she realized that this was what had caused them.

"Stay in tonight," Mia grabbed Michael's hands as she tried to catch his gaze once more. "You've got to fight them, Michael. Don't let them control you."

"I can't." Michael shook his head. "And you shouldn't either. Just give in to them, Mia. Things would be easier for everyone if you did."

"Michael!" Their conversation stopped suddenly when Lucy appeared in the doorway. "Max is coming for dinner and I'd like it if you would meet him."

"I can't, Mom. I have plans." Although his words were directed towards their mother, Michael looked at Mia, but she struggled to meet his gaze. She didn't want to go with him, she couldn't go with him, but what cost would it be to Michael or anyone else if she didn't? "You comin', Mia?"

Mia had never felt so conflicted in her life. Could she willingly risk Michael's safety for her own? She couldn't. She knew she couldn't, but then she would be giving in to them. She would be doing exactly what they wanted. As much as Mia was going to hate herself for it, she couldn't do that. "No." It hurt to say it, but Mia couldn't let herself play right into their hands. She couldn't let a repeat of Nick happen in her life again. She had made a promise to herself that she would never let a man control her life again and despite the pain it caused to put Michael in potential risk, she would not break that promise.

"Gotta go then," Michael shrugged nonchalantly, but Mia could see the hurt in his eyes. Perhaps she was being selfish, Mia had always struggled with that, but she wasn't going to change her mind. While each decision wasn't ideal, she did feel like she had made the best possible choice. Michael only knew some of the things that had occurred between Nick and herself, and that was only what she had decided to tell him. If he truly knew the extent of their relationship, Mia knew that there would be hell to pay. But Michael didn't know, and he never would. She just wished that Michael would still understand.

"Now, wait a minute Michael!" Lucy was oblivious to the exchange between the twins, as she chased after Michael. "You're going out? But you're always out!"

Mia didn't hear the rest of the conversation as she made her way back to the kitchen to finish getting dinner ready. She couldn't afford to think of the consequences that her decision would cause. What she needed was a distraction, and while she knew that she was not going to enjoy the dinner that was about to ensue, it would provide the distraction that she wanted. With a quick glance at the clock, Mia saw that Max would be arriving at any minute. All that was left to do was putting the pasta her mother and she had made on the table.

"Is dinner ready yet?"

"Pretty much. Max should be here any moment and then we can eat." Mia glanced behind her shoulder as she heard Sam walking into the kitchen.

"Max? Why's he coming?" Sam's face twisted slightly in disgust as he peers over her shoulder to get a look at what was for supper.

"I know how you feel, but please behave for Mom's sake." Mia teasingly pokes her younger brother on the tip of her nose to which he quickly bats her hand away ruffled. He often complained that Mia treated him like he was a little kid still, but Mia couldn't help herself. No matter how old Sam got, he would always be her baby brother in her eyes. "This is the first time she's started dating again since the divorce."

"I know." He sighs as he follows Mia to the dining room where they were met with the scene of their mother kissing Max. Upon their entry, the two separated rather quickly and while Mia did her best to smile at the two, she doubted she succeeded.

"How are you Mia?" Max asked when Mia got over her shock and set the pasta down in the middle of the table.

Mia shrugged her shoulders. "I've been better."

"Any boys giving you trouble in town?" Mia's head shot up fast at Max's next words. Did he know about David, Paul, Dwayne, and Marko? She searched his eyes for information, but only found an unreadable smile which did not sit well in her stomach. She couldn't help but feel like he knew what was going on, but that was impossible. There was no way that Max knew about the hell that she had been through the past few days.

"Nothing I can't handle." Mia's gaze didn't falter as she spoke. She looked closely for any reaction that her reply would have caused, but saw nothing. Instead Max turned his gaze to her brother. Mia's eyes strayed on Max for a bit longer, but eventually figured Max didn't mean anything of it. How could he though? Mia had only ever talked to Max twice, so there was no way that he knew what was going on. He was probably just remembering their first encounter, which also happened to be her first encounter with the vampires. Maybe it was his way of seeing if they were giving her any more trouble. Mia remembered the way that he had looked at them all those nights ago. There was no way that Max knew the boys' true identities, but there was no denying that he knew they were trouble. Mia knew that this logic made the most sense, but a part of her couldn't help but think that maybe Max knew more than he was letting on.

* * *

The dinner was just as awkward as Mia had expected it to be. Thankfully Sam had behaved himself, as well as he could anyways, and it hadn't lasted long. After Mia had decided that enough time had passed for her to not seem rude, she had excused herself from the dinner table and retired to her bedroom. Once there, Mia grabbed the book she was currently reading from her vanity and curled up under the covers in her bed to read. The dinner had proved to be a good distraction, but now that she was alone, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about Michael. It had been a little over an hour since he went out and Mia prayed that he wasn't in any danger. If only she could have convinced him to stay in with her.

Mia tried to read, but after her eyes had scanned the same sentence repeatedly and she still had no clue as to what it said, Mia dropped the book down beside her with a sigh. She didn't regret her decision to stay inside, but the guilt of letting Michael go out without her began to grow as the time went by.

Mia's thoughts were interrupted when a knock sounded on her door and her mother called her name. When Mia told her mother to come in the room, the door opened and Lucy appeared with the kitchen phone in her hand.

"Michael called and is asking for you." Lucy smiled as she walked over to where Mia sat in her bed, completely oblivious to the terror Mia felt at her words. It took all of Mia's self-control to slowly take the phone from her mother's hands and not show the panic and icy terror quickly flooding her veins. An involuntary shudder racked her body as the cold sweeping through her body made its way through her chest and down along her spine. Either Mia was hiding her feelings better than she thought, or her mother was too preoccupied with the thought of Max and a bottle of wine awaiting her downstairs, because Lucy only offered her daughter a quick pat on the shoulder before leaving the bedroom and heading back downstairs.

"Michael! What happened? Are you okay?" The words tumbled out of Mia's throat before her brain could even process what she was saying. While her mother had said that it was Michael who had called, the thought of Michael in danger was all that filled her mind at the moment.

"Don't worry sweetheart, you're brother is just fine." A fresh wave of terror filled Mia's body as David's voice filled her ears. Despite his assurance that Michael was fine, Mia had no cause to believe him. Lies tumbled off of David's tongue just as easily as the truth and Mia would sooner believe the god of mischief himself, before she would believe anything that David said.

"What did you do to my brother?" Mia's grip tightened on the phone as she tried to keep the panic out of her voice. "I swear if you hurt one fucking piece of hair on his head-"

"Now what did I say about the swearing?" Mia could hear the smirk dancing on David's lips through the phone causing her terror to subside slowly as his stupid playful manner started to tick her off. Was everything a fucking joke to him? "Your brother-"

"Put Michael on the phone right now, or I swear I'll fu-"

"Relax sweetheart, we're all friends here remember?"

"Mia, I'm fine, truly." Mia started to reply with some snarky reply, but was stopped when her brother's voice came through the phone quickly subduing the rest of the terror that had filled her moments earlier. Instead, she was left with a small sense of relief and a lot of anger and annoyance at the boys her brother was currently with. "But I need you to listen to what David has to say, okay?" Mia didn't have much time to voice her opinion on the matter before the phone was handed back to David and Michael was gone to her once more.

"See, I told you he was fine."

"What do you want?" Mia shifted the phone to her other ear as she ran her hand through her hair, one of her many nervous ticks that she had picked up over the years. Her hand then moved to play with the ends of her hair as she tried not to show any emotion in her voice. Mia sent a silent prayer above that she couldn't smell David or the others, so that her mind wasn't further clouded by the scent of their blood. It was easier to act tough when she didn't have the strange aching desire to kiss them-Mia squirmed uncomfortably at the thought-let alone bite one of them.

"I think you know what we want, sweetheart." David drawled out causing Mia to once again shiver involuntarily. David wasn't lying. Mia knew what they wanted. They wanted _her_. It wasn't just that though, they wanted her to become like them, to become a creature of the night.

"I can't do that." Mia's voice was soft as she tried not to think about what they wanted her to do. While the thought of blood sent her mouth watering, the thought of her killing someone made her sick to her stomach.

"You have to feed, Mia," David's voice seemed oddly soft as he spoke, ever so subtly gentle that Mia couldn't help but start to feel oddly at ease. "before you hurt someone close to you." He was right, Mia knew he was right, but that didn't make his words any easier to handle. Mia needed to go through with the transformation or find a way to reverse it. Either way, she needed more time. Perhaps if she could convince them to give her some time, she could find a way to reverse the transformation, find a way to fight them.

"I just need time, time to wrap my head around it all, time to prepare." _And time to find a way to become human once again._ She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying the last statement.

"One week."

"What?" Mia's mouth dropped open at his response. As much as it thrilled her, she knew it couldn't have been this easy. She knew David. She knew that he would never give in to a request that he didn't fully like. There was a catch, she just knew it, but what?

"We'll give you one week without any attempt to make you feed, but-"

 _Ah! There it is._ Mia rolled her eyes, not at all happy that she had been right. As much as she knew there would be a but, she had really hoped there wasn't.

"You're spending it with us."

Mia was ready to spit back a refusal, but quickly stopped herself before she could. It wasn't ideal, in fact it was the last thing that she wanted to do, but perhaps she could work it to her favor. As much as she wanted to stay as far away from them as she could, she knew that that wasn't going to happen. They knew where she lived and they could get to her, invitation or not. It would just be a few hours with them each night, so she could spend the rest of her waking hours in the sun searching for a way to turn her human again. She could make them think that she was doing exactly what they wanted, but secretly fighting the entire way.

"Well?"

"Fine. I'll come out each night, but," Mia couldn't help but let a sly smile cover her face at her next words. "you'll have to come find me." She knew that they would have no trouble finding her, but it felt good to have a slight grip on the situation, to have a small sense of control.

"Oh, now we're talking, sweetheart."

Mia couldn't stop the thrill that ran through her body at David's reply. The riveting feeling of teasing the boys was more exciting than she had imagined it would be. Perhaps, she could give them a taste of their own medicine throughout the week. She could flirt, be a tease, make them think she was finally giving in to their lustful wishes before throwing it all in their faces by the time the week was finished. She would play them like they had played her.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Super psyched that it didn't take me over a month to get this chapter out! I had a little trouble with deciding exactly what I wanted this one to look like and deleted two different drafts halfway through before finally settling on this one. Otherwise this would have came out a couple days earlier. I had been struggling a bit with the flow of the story, so I had to reread the first seven chapters twice to make sure that this chapter stayed consistent with the rest of the story. I'm feeling pretty happy with the way this turned out, so I hope you all enjoy it as well! I always enjoy hearing your thoughts on this story!

As always, I do not own The Lost Boys, but only Mia and any other OC's that pop up.

* * *

"How long do you think it'll take them to find us?"

"Hmm?" Mia hadn't been paying enough attention to her brother to catch what he had just said to her. She had been too consumed with the thoughts about what the night might bring for her to have heard.

"How long do you think it'll take them to find us?" Michael patiently repeated his question. While Mia and Michael had managed to partially break down the barrier that had grown between the two, things were still slightly awkward. Mia was still kind of pissed at Michael, and she didn't doubt that Michael was in some way pissed at her as well, but she would be damned if she was going to let David and the others destroy her relationship with her brother. He was all she had left at this point.

"Not long." Mia fiddled with the straw of the strawberry lemonade she was halfheartedly drinking as they walked down the boardwalk together. It was the only thing that she could manage to keep down her stomach at the moment. Mia found she had lost her appetite to her nerves when she woke up this morning. With the realization that she had to face David, Marko, Paul, and Dwayne tonight, she hadn't ate a bite of food the entire day. The mere thought of eating made her stomach lurch. "I think I can smell them." Mia took in a deep breath of the air around her and she suddenly found the lemonade in her hands unappetizing. "They're close."

Mia had begun to dread going out the moment she ended the call with David the following night. Despite feeling that she had gotten partial control of the situation, it hadn't taken long for regrets and second-guesses to find their way into her mind. She had gotten herself more time and she had gotten control on where they would be each night, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that she had played herself right into their hands. Why else would they have agreed to her request so quickly.

 _Oh, now we're talking, sweetheart._

David's words had haunted her all night. They may have sounded innocent enough, but Mia knew that the meaning behind them was far from innocence. They kept repeating themselves over and over in her head, making her toss and turn throughout the night. Even when she managed to fall asleep, the words crept themselves into her dreams along with the man who had said them.

Despite the restless sleep, Mia found new determination in the morning. Even if she had played herself, she couldn't allow them to see that they had gotten to her. She needed to show that they couldn't control her anymore. She couldn't afford to show any more weaknesses. No, she would go through with her plan, even if it was exactly what they wanted her to do. She would exude playful confidence, get each of them wrapped around _her_ finger for a change, before dumping them on their asses when she became human once again. The only problem was that she didn't know how to return to being human once more, but she could figure out how. She had to.

She had thought about questioning Edgar and Allen, but decided to use them as a last resort. While she was fairly certain that they hadn't caught on to her earlier questions, she knew that they would start getting curious sooner or later. Before Mia had her eyes opened to the supernatural world, she had had no interest in talking to them about the creatures of the night, had even thought that they were getting into their parents' drugs for believing such things. They were bound to know that something was up if she wanted to talk about it now.

She had then briefly thought about just telling them the truth and asking for their help, but shoved the idea down as quickly as it had came. While Mia would consider herself friends with the Frog brothers, she didn't know what they would do if she admitted that she was a half-vampire. She was pretty sure that they would help her reverse the transformation, but they would be relentless in finding out who had sired her. Mia didn't like David, Paul, Marko, or Dwayne, at least she kept telling herself that she didn't, but even if this was true, the thought of sending the two young vampire hunters after them made a strange panic rise up in her and twisted and churned her stomach until she eventually threw up.

With the Frog brothers almost completely out of the picture, Mia could only think of the comic books that her brother had stashed in his bedroom somewhere. Under normal circumstances, Mia would never trust anything she found on vampires in comics, but Edgar and Alan had said they learned most of their knowledge from the books themselves. They're information had to be true then, right? Mia didn't know how many vampires the two boys had hunted and killed, but it had to be a few with all the knowledge they had on the species.

"Mia!"

Mia was drawn out of her thoughts when someone nearly tackled her from behind and wrapped her in their arms.

"What the hell, Paul!" Mia groaned when his actions nearly caused her to spill the rest of her lemonade on herself. She tried to elbow her way out of Paul's grip, but he held on tight in order to kiss her on her cheek before finally letting go. While none of the boys were shy when it came to touching her, Paul seemed to be the most outgoing. He never seemed to be able to keep his hands to himself when he was around her and seemed to use any and every excuse to get close. Despite her annoyance on the matter, his touch always managed to make her heart flutter no matter how hard she tried to stop it.

"Love you too, sweetcheeks."

 _Sweetcheeks?!_

Mia's eyebrows raised at the pet name Paul had just addressed her by. She was used to them by now even if she wasn't too keen on them. Each boy seemed to have a different name they liked to call her, but sweetcheeks was a new one.

"Star!" All thoughts on questioning the blond any further vanished when Mia saw the familiar brunette, shyly approaching behind the rest of the boys with Laddie in tow. Star's head whipped up at the mention of her name. She seemed startled, but a small smile found its way on her face when she saw Mia flashing her a bright smile. Mia hadn't expected them to bring Star, but she was glad they had. She had only talked to the girl once, but she had taken an instant liking to her. "Laddie!" She added as the younger boy gave her a curious look from Star's side. She had talked to Laddie even less than Star, but Mia had always loved little kids.

"You remember me." Laddie broke off from Star and approached Mia warily. Star in turn, gravitated towards Michael who smiled warmly at seeing her.

"'Course I do, kiddo," Her response caused a wide smile to cross his face and Mia couldn't help but to match his goofy grin. She playfully ruffled his hair like she would if he had been her younger brother.

"You didn't make it very hard to find you." Mia looked up from Laddie when David spoke, a cool smile on his lips as he shamelessly took in Mia's figure, his eyes lingering on her bare legs. "I was expecting more of a challenge from you, sweetheart." He added as he lit the cigarette that had been stored behind his ear.

"It's only the first night," Mia shrugged. "Besides, I've been in Santa Carla for a week now and I've not gotten to go on a single ride on the boardwalk yet."

Mia had debated for a while on what she wanted to do tonight. What she had really wanted to do was go out dancing, but the thought of dancing at a club with any of the four boys in front of her filled her with a nervous excitement that didn't sit well in her stomach. Her body was attracted, no, it _craved_ those four boys more than she would ever admit to herself, so if she didn't want to do anything that resembled the night that Mia had turned, she needed to avoid dancing or anything that would put her in a similar position for the time being.

Instead, Mia had eventually settled on just going to the boardwalk. Even though the amount of blood made her head nearly spin, she felt more at ease surrounded by other people. It also made it easier for her to keep a clear head. Besides, she would be lying if she had said she hadn't been itching to ride the roller coaster since she first laid eyes on it.

"I think someone just wanted to be found." Marko's teasing words only brought him a burning glare from Mia.

"You'd just love to believe that, wouldn't you?"

"Ahh, come on, baby, you know you love us." Paul's arms wrapped around Mia's neck from behind and he laid his chin against one of her shoulders. She allowed him to grab the lemonade out of her hands because she knew she couldn't stomach drinking it at the moment.

"Love to hate you, you mean." Mia muttered as she struggled to not relax back into Paul's body. It was so easy for her to feel at ease with them when they weren't trying to scare her or trying to coerce her into doing something she didn't want to do. She actually kind of enjoyed their company, though she would die before she would admit this. As much as they drove her crazy with all their teasing, Mia felt like this was where she belonged, with them. It was the exact way she had felt when they had taken her to their home. She hadn't felt scared at being alone with them, but oddly as if she had finally come home. "Now, are you going to annoy me all night or can we actually go on some rides?" Mia added before any of them could make a playful remark to her last comment.

"Well, what do you want to-"

"Roller coaster, definitely the roller coaster." Mia eagerly interrupts Paul when she eyes the multicolored ride behind David. Before anyone could object to Mia's suggestion, Mia elbowed her way out of Paul's grasp and grabbed the nearest hand-which happened to be Marko's-and took off in the direction of the ride. She really, really wanted to ride it.

When Laddie didn't quite feel up to riding, Mia promised to ride the next ride of his choice with him. She then had to promise Dwayne, who had offered to wait with Laddie, the very same thing when he had complained about it not being fair.

"So, Star, your parents ex-hippies too?" Mia asked when they made it in line for the coaster. She pulled herself up to the railing to sit down, her leg lightly touching David's arm from where he was leaning against it. She didn't really feel like having a conversation with any of the guys at the moment because that was sure to entail more flirtatious teasing on their part. After Mia had realized that she had not grabbed Marko's hand, but then held it much longer than necessary earlier, she didn't really feel like dealing with it at the moment.

"Michael told me he was almost named Moonbeam." Star replied with a shy grin towards Michael as she spoke.

 _Aww_. She inwardly cooed at the two. It was easy to see the desire for each other in both of their eyes. Michael had never really had a serious girlfriend, but it was almost like they had been made for each other. It made Mia happy to see the two of them together. She hadn't mentioned anything about finding a way to turn human again to Michael, but perhaps she would be able to convince him and Star in turning back as well.

"I was going to be Sunshine." Mia's nose wrinkled in disgust. Mia didn't dislike the hippie subculture, but she had always been more of a rock 'n roll girl. Sunshine was too 'peace-lovin'' and 'down-to-earth' for herself. If there had to be one thing that Mia had to thank her father for, it would be that he had managed to swerve their mother on any hippie names for their children. She didn't know what she would have done if her mother had ended up naming her Sunshine. "Moonbeam and Sunshine. What a unlikely duo we would have made." Mia hummed in amusement.

"Sunshine," Paul draws the name out, trying out the way it sounded with his own lips. "That's perfect!"

"Oh no you will not!" Mia exclaimed when she saw the goofy smile that Paul sent her. Baby had been bad enough, sweetcheeks had been even worse, but Mia was not going to be called sunshine.

"Sorry, _sunshine_ , it's just too perfect too pass." Paul's eyes twinkle playfully as he twirls one of Mia's golden strands in his hand.

"We'll see about that." Mia murmured as she matched Paul's gaze for as long as she could manage. Paul's playful manner was almost contagious and it was hard for her to stop herself from matching one of his goofy smiles. He would never stop calling her sunshine if she couldn't keep a straight face, and he was not going to be calling her sunshine.

"Good luck trying to convince Paul otherwise," David chuckled. Mia liked it when David laughed, well, really, she liked it when any of them laughed. It made her feel all warm and bubbly inside, all the way down to her toes. The feeling only intensified when David's hand began to lightly trace her bare thigh. She suddenly remembered the way his touch felt against her abdomen and she felt her face flush.

"Didn't anyone teach you how to keep your hands to yourself?" Mia fought to hide her flustered state as she hopped down off the railing when the line in front of them began to move.

"I thought you liked it." David's hands moved to hold the railing on each side of Mia, effectively trapping her. His head cocked to the side as he leaned forward. Mia squirmed nervously underneath him, the railing digging into her back as she tried to put more space between the two of them. Her breath hitched as his face shifted even closer to hers. She struggled to control the aching thirst inside her as his scent began to overwhelm her. He was too close.

"You thought wrong," Mia tried to sound tough, but the slight squeak in her voice gave her away.

"Your face says otherwise," David's mouth was right next to her ear, his breath tickling her skin. "I don't mind though; red's a good color on you." Mia's blush deepened at David's statement and only grew worse when he playfully tugged at her earlobe with his teeth. _Fuck, fuck, fuck._ She could feel the panic rising up in her. He knew how much he could get to her, and this knowledge only made Mia's body react more intensely. She needed air. "Come on, sweetheart, you're holding up the line." David chuckled as he finally stood up straight once more. His icy blue eyes laughed gleefully down at her as he took in the full reaction his previous actions had caused. One of his hands snaked around to the small of her back and he guided her forward when she found she could not move herself. She could faintly hear her brother complaining about David's actions over the roaring that filled her ears, but David only chuckled and shrugged his shoulders as he replied.

David's hand stayed there on her back throughout the rest of the line and Mia didn't have the courage to push it away, still frazzled by what had happened. He only let her be when Marko won the argument on who got to sit next to Mia on the roller coaster by complaining that Mia had already gotten to ride on the back David's and Paul's bikes, so he should get to ride with Mia. Mia would have argued that this wasn't a game, but the fingers that had ever so slowly found their way under her shirt to begin tracing along her lower spine kept her brain otherwise preoccupied.

Mia began to feel like herself again when she could no longer feel David's touch and was sitting in the cart waiting for the ride to begin. She was extremely aware of the fact that Marko's leg was brushing against her own, but her excitement drowned it out when the cart started moving forwards.

She could still feel the adrenaline running through her veins when the ride had ended and they made their way to where Dwayne and Laddie waited for them. The ride was just as good as she had imagined it would be. She would have been up to riding again, but knew that she had promised Laddie the next ride and didn't want to keep the kid waiting any longer.

"How was it?" Laddie asked Mia when he saw their group approaching him. He and Dwayne had seemed to be in a pretty deep conversation, but it ended the moment that Laddie had seen Mia. She wondered what the two could have been talking about.

Mia ignored the want to figure out what had passed between the two boys. It wasn't any of her business. Instead, she smiled at Laddie as she searched for the perfect word to his question. "Exhilarating."

"She never screamed," Marko rests his arm on Mia's shoulder causing her to give him a pointed look from the corner of her eyes. Thankfully, the adrenaline had cleared her brain from earlier, so she only felt mildly annoyed at the blond. "Just laughed like a maniac the entire time." Marko saw Mia's look but chose to ignore it.

"A woman after my own heart." Paul teasingly swooned.

Mia ignored Paul's comment and instead asked the younger boy what ride he had decided on the two of them to ride. Laddie immediately spoke of the Ferris Wheel at the end of the boardwalk. When she told him to lead the way, he smiled that impossibly cute grin of his and took hold of her hand.

None of the boys seemed interested in riding the Ferris Wheel tonight. They didn't say it, but Mia had a gut feeling it was because she was riding it with Laddie. Paul had confirmed her thoughts when he decided that it was okay to remark, "If I don't get to make out with Mia when we get stuck at the top then I'm not riding." Mia had to fight the urge to slap that stupid smirk off his face when he had only smiled at her when she got on to him about it.

Mia was reminded of Paul's teasing words when the cart Laddie and Mia were in did stop at the top. The words were gone as soon as they came when Mia was too enthralled with the scene around her to get flustered. She could see the entire boardwalk from where she sat, and much of Santa Carla too. Even though it was late into the night, the city was alive in a splendor of lights and color. She could make out various fires scattered across the beach, lighting the waves crashing against the shore in a reddish glow. It was beautiful.

"They really like you, you know."

"What?" The trance Mia had found herself in was shattered when Laddie broke the silence the two had been in. "Who likes me?" She managed to tear her eyes from the scenery to look down at the boy who had drawn himself close against her.

"The guys." Laddie didn't seem fazed with what he was saying as he traced one of the cracks in the side of the seat with his finger. "They won't say it, but I know it. They've never acted this way around any girl before, not even Star." Mia was too stunned with what Laddie was saying to think of a reply. She didn't know what to say, let alone think. Thankfully, Laddie didn't seem to keen on a reply as he kept talking. "I asked Dwayne about you, but he told me it was none of my business. I think it's 'cause you smell so nice though. Dwayne said I needed to be extra careful 'cause I wasn't allowed to bite you." Laddie stopped tracing the line and moved closer to Mia, his head leaning to rest against her arm. "I'm glad they're gonna bring you into the family. I like you."

"I like you too, Laddie." They were the only words Mia could think to say when Laddie finished speaking. Her mind was running at a thousand miles a minute to try and process the information that Laddie had just given her.

 _They've never acted this way around a girl before_.

This only added to her confusion. Why her? Out of all the girls that the four of them had had contact with before, what made her so special? What was so different about her that they weren't even bothered that they shared her with one another. Mia had briefly reflected on this thought before, but it always felt so normal when she was around them that she often forgot that people didn't just let others share their romantic interest with another. Relationships happened between two people, not five, but it all seemed so natural with them that she hadn't really ever questioned it.

So what was it? What made them want to change her, share her, add her to their little family as Laddie had put it. She wasn't anything special, so what had made her stick out to them so much? She knew that they had messed around with Star before she came along, but Star had seemed to belong to David, not the others too. Sure, they had gone at the same length to change Star, but Laddie had said that they didn't act towards Star like they had with her, not even David. So why was this? What was it that Laddie had said again?

 _I think it's 'cause you smell so nice._

What was with that? What did smelling nice have to do with them deciding to ruin her life by transforming her into one of them without her knowledge or consent? If she smelled so nice then why didn't they just kill her that first night? Or that night when they finally got her all to themselves? As much as she was glad they didn't, it still didn't make any sense. They should have killed her like they did with those kids two nights ago.

"You think I smell nice?" Mia tried to keep her voice even as she gently brushed a piece of his hair out of his face and behind his ear. She felt kind of bad trying to get information out of the little boy, but where else was she going to get it? Star was too scared of David, Paul, Marko, and Dwayne for her to coax any information out of and she sure as hell wasn't getting anything out of the boys themselves.

"Mmhmm," Laddie nodded his head. "Dwayne said that the blood of the person who turns you will always be the sweetest, but yours smells even nicer than David's." Laddie took a deep breath, taking in her scent. "It's sweet like candy...like blood candy." He giggled at the thought.

 _Dwayne said the blood of the person who sires you will always be sweetest._

Could this explain why they all smelled so good to her? But wouldn't she have just drank the blood of one of them? They didn't all sire her, did they? They didn't mix all of their blood together for her to drink, did they? If so, why? What did they gain by doing that? Did it have something to do with the fact that they were all content in sharing her?

But the bigger question was what the hell did Laddie mean by her blood being so sweet?

She had thought that she could get answers from Laddie, but his words only made her more confused. She wasn't any closer to finding out what she wanted than she had been before. If anything, she was left with even more questions than she had started out with.

"Did Dwayne say why I smell nice?"

Laddie shook his head. "Dwayne said I wouldn't understand."

 _Well, it was worth a shot._

After that Laddie lost interest in the current topic and began rambling about a night when Paul and Dwayne had taken him to the arcade. Mia only half-listened to the story, her mind too preoccupied on trying to understand the information Laddie had just given her. It must have been what him and Dwayne had been conversing about while she was on the roller coaster. She thought about asking the boys about it, but didn't want to risk getting Laddie in trouble. If the boys had forbidden Star from talking about it then she could only assume that Laddie wasn't supposed to talk about it either. Why though, Mia didn't have a clue. What were they gaining by keeping her in the dark?

Laddie had finished his story by the time the ride was over. He seemed high in spirits as he took hold of Mia's hand and led her to where the boys were waiting for the two of them. It made her wonder why the four of them had decided to change him. They didn't really seem like the type of boys to take in little kids. It just created more questions that Mia didn't know the answers to.

Mia forced herself to push their conversation to the back of her mind when she approached the boys. She couldn't risk them knowing what she knew. Who knows what they might do or say or think if they knew she was digging around for answers that they weren't keen on answering. She would just have to worry about it at a later time. Perhaps Michael could help her wrap her brain around them.

"My turn." Dwayne smirked at Mia and she suddenly regretted promising Dwayne a ride of his choice with him. With Laddie it was innocent, but Mia wasn't too sure about it being innocent with Dwayne with the way his brown eyes were twinkling at her.

"And what do you have planned for your turn?" Mia asked when Dwayne wrapped an arm around her waist and started leading her in an unknown direction.

"Wouldn't you like to know, babygirl." Dwayne's response caused Mia to shiver, thought not entirely in fear. Although she was nervous about what Dwayne might have in store for her, she was also mildly excited.

"Okay, this isn't fair! I want a turn!" Paul loudly complained as they walked to their next location.

"I'm not a toy, Paul." Mia shot back, mildly annoyed.

"But everyone's gotten a turn except for me." He continued to grumble, not letting up.

"I don't remember having a turn with Mia, Paul." David remarked coolly as he lit up another cigarette to smoke. The way he phrased his statement made Mia get even more annoyed. Did he not hear her just say that she wasn't a toy? They didn't just get to take "turns" with her.

"That shit you pulled in line was basically a turn." Paul returned causing Mia's face to go bright red once again. David only shrugged his shoulders with a pleasantly amused smile dancing on his face.

"Oh and what shit would this be, Paul?" Dwayne asked when he saw the blush Mia was trying to hide. Mia saw his own amused smile on his lips and cursed him in her head.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask Mia."

"Fuck you both." Mia grumbled causing only more laughter from all four boys and for Dwayne to give her body a tight squeeze. Mia's nerves grew as Dwayne kept leading her in the direction of the exit to the boardwalk. She had a suspicion of what Dwayne was thinking he was about to get away with, but really hoped that she was reading it wrong. "This doesn't count, Dwayne." Mia stopped walking when she realized she was right and Dwayne was leading her towards his bike.

"You promised me a ride of _my_ choice," Dwayne turned around to face her with a confident smirk on his face. "And this happens to be it." Mia wanted to wipe that stupid smirk off his face, especially when Paul praised Dwayne for his smart thinking.

"If you think I'm getting on there with you, you're fucking crazy." Mia crossed her arms, refusing to budge on the matter. She didn't care that Dwayne's choice technically did count. There was no way in hell she was going anywhere with them.

"Language," David murmured behind her causing Mia's frown to deepen. She knew that he only did it because it got to her, but that didn't make it any less annoying.

"Relax, babygirl, we're only going to go get something to eat. Michael said you haven't ate anything all day." Dwayne's voice softened slightly as he walked back up to Mia, his hands gently reaching for her own. "Ah, shit! I meant like real food!" Dwayne swore when he saw Mia flinch and try to back away. "Like, you know, cheeseburgers and shit."

Mia looked him straight in the eye, but when she saw only genuine regret for his bad wording, she slowly relaxed her body. When he had said they were going to eat she was almost certain they had broken their deal and were going to try and make her kill someone again. The terror had risen in her faster than she had imagined. She could still feel the remains of it even after knowing it had been a false alarm.

"If I find out you're lying, you'll be the one I'm sinking my teeth in." Mia inwardly cringed as the words came out of her mouth and saw the wicked smile that broke out on Dwayne's face. _Poor choice of words, Mia, poor choice of words._

"Well when you put it that way, I almost wish I were."

"Shut up." Mia glared up at him before pushing him in the direction of his bike trying hard to use her hair to hide her reddening face.

This only cause Dwayne to laugh harder as he helped Mia get onto the back of his bike. Mia's face only reddened further when she wrapped her arms around Dwayne's waist and met bare skin. He wasn't wearing a shirt, just a jacket, and Mia would have been lying if she had said that Dwayne wasn't pretty ripped. She had to physically constrain herself from beginning to slowly trace the muscles that lined his abdomen.

Lucky for Mia, Dwayne hadn't been lying when he said that they were going to get actual food and not go feast on some unsuspecting humans. She still didn't quite feel like eating, but with Michael ratting her out to the boys earlier, it was four, five if you counted Michael, against one and Mia finally surrendered by telling them to get her some fries before collapsing by Michael at one of the picnic tables outside. She could feel her body starting to crash.

"Tired already?" Marko chuckled when he sat down on her other side and saw her yawn. "But the night's only begun!"

"Unlike you, I've been up all day." Mia shot back as another yawn escaped her mouth. If they thought she was going to stay up all night with them, they were sorely mistaken. Mia knew she only had an hour, maybe two, before her body would crash for sure.

"But what about my turn?" Paul complained as he sat down across from Mia.

"You'll get over it." Mia didn't really feel like having this conversation again. Thankfully, she was spared when Dwayne arrived with her food and the conversation quickly switched to them forcing Mia to eat. She still wasn't very hungry, but still ate if only to appease them.

Mia didn't say much after she had finished eating. She often found herself lacking the strength or mind-power to talk when she grew tired, and instead grew content with just observing. Her head fell to rest on Michael's shoulder as she watched the boys around her, a small smile on her lips as they joked around with one another. She liked it when they were like this, all jokes and laughter. They weren't trying to scare her, trying to make her do anything that she didn't want to. Sure, they still annoyed her like no one before, but it all just felt so right, so comfortable. If this was what they were normally like, Mia knew she wouldn't mind sticking around, joining the family as Laddie put it. The thought of having endless nights just like this one excited her more than she knew. And for the first time in her life, Mia realized that she wanted this.

Her excitement quickly deflated when she remembered the price of what she wanted and she knew that she couldn't pay it. No matter how much she craved to spend the rest of her life with David, Paul, Marko, and Dwayne, she knew she couldn't. It wasn't just the fact that she would have to murder someone for it, but the fact that she would be abandoning her family as well. After the hell that her mother had been in, she couldn't leave her or even Sammy either for that matter. They were her family for god's sake and she couldn't just leave them without any warning for a couple of guys. She was better than that.

No, she would have to follow through with her original plan. She would find out how to reverse the transformation and then never see any of the four boys again. She would move on with her life, go off to college in the fall and live the rest of her life as she grew old. In a few years it would all be a distant memory, but she wouldn't regret her decision, not even when she grew old and eventually laid on death's bed. She would be making the right choice, she knew she would, but since when did doing the right thing hurt so much?


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Just a quick little warning that things get slightly graphic/intense in this chapter. It's nothing too extreme, but I figured I would put a warning up here just in case.**

* * *

 _I wonder if they ever miss the sun._ Mia silently mused as she bathed in the warmth of the sun's bright rays. She was sprawled out on her stomach, her chin resting in one hand as the other traced random patterns in the sand beneath her. _I would definitely miss it._ A strand of hair fell into her face and she attempted to blow it out of her way but was unsuccessful. _An eternity without ever being able to see the sun again? I'll pass._ She began to nibble on her bottom lip as she broke down the thought that had just crossed her mind. While she would miss the sun, Mia knew that her last thought had been a lie to convince herself of what she knew she should have wanted, but didn't. Even if she refused to admit it to herself, Mia knew that she would give up the sun for an eternity with even just one of the boys that were constantly on her mind.

She wished she could just hate them. Everything would be so much easier for herself if she did. She had thought that she had hated them before but as she looked back on those days, she realized that she hadn't really hated them, at least not fully. She had wanted to, had come incredibly close to it, but her body had always reacted in a way that had betrayed her hatred. It didn't matter how aggravated, terrified, or furious she was. A single brush of contact or even just the right word would be enough to shatter any of those emotions and send her body yearning for more. If she had truly hated them, there was nothing they could have done that would have caused her body such pleasure.

And as much as she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew this to be true from her time with Nick. Once she began to truly see who Nick was, every tender touch, every alluring word that had once set her body on fire, had only sent her body reeling in disgust. Her body could no longer find pleasure in him.

It had been a struggle to hide her discontent with Nick, but with them, it was a struggle to hide her strong desires. If she truly hated them, it wouldn't be so difficult.

She didn't understand why she was so attracted to them. She should have been turned off by their antics, she had certainly never found them attractive in other men before. And then there was the vampire shit they had pulled her into without her knowledge or consent. So why could she still not find it in her to hate them?

 _Maybe it's just their fantasies and desires trapped inside my head, twisting themselves so I think they're my own._ Despite the sun's warmth, Mia shivered at the thought. But why else would she not be able to hate them? _Or maybe, just maybe, I'm as twisted as they are._ This thought sat even worse in her stomach.

 _Damn them._ With an annoyed huff, Mia rolled over to her back, eyes squeezing shut as they came into contact with the afternoon sun. In the end, Mia knew that it truly didn't matter what inside her made her feel this way. Even if she did figure it out, would she be able to change what was happening inside her? No matter how much she tried to keep her senses about her or tried to resist their wicked charms, her body would always betray her. She knew it, and worse, they knew it. They knew that the simplest of actions could melt away all of her resistance and make her putty in their hands. They knew it and used it to their fullest pleasure. _Damn them and their stupid good looks, and their playful manners, and especially that stupidly sweet smelling blood of theirs._

"Everything okay, sweetie?"

"Huh?" Mia was caught off guard when her mother spoke from beside her. "Oh, uh, yeah. Everything's cool." She managed to stumble out when her brain finally processed what had just been said to her.

Lucy didn't have to go into work until later that night, so she had asked Mia and her brothers if they wanted to go to the beach together. Mia had accepted her mother's invitation eagerly. It was exactly what she needed to help convince herself that she was making the right choice by finding a way to reverse the transformation. All she needed was a gentle reminder of all humanity had to offer to push away the darkness that was quietly beckoning her.

"Are you sure? You've seemed a little distracted over the past couple of days. Is something on your mind?" Lucy's hand moved to brush a stray hair behind Mia's ear. A smile showed on her face, but Mia could see the concern in her eyes.

 _Oh nothing, really, Mom. Just trying to find a way to not become a member of the undead. Oh, had I not mentioned I'm a half-vampire with four very attractive vampires intent on completing the transformation?_

Mia had to bite down on her lip to keep the response from slipping out. Instead, she settled with a more vague response of "Just thinking about the future," before shrugging her shoulders. It wasn't technically a lie, but she knew that her mother would never know, let alone believe the true meaning behind those words. "I guess I just don't really know what to do anymore." She added as her hand fiddled with the frayed end of the towel she was sitting on.

She wished that she could explain the situation to her mother, but she knew that her mother would never believe her and even if she did, it would only put her in harm's way. As much as she yearned for her mother's advice, it wasn't something that she could afford.

"Oh, sweetie, everything will work out okay." Lucy's smile faltered ever so slightly and she scooted closer to Mia so she could put an arm around Mia's shoulders. "I know you wanted to go to Tucson for college, and I'm sorry-"

"Mom, you have nothing to apologize for." Mia interrupted before her mother could even begin. It was true that Mia had planned on going to the University of Arizona in the fall, but then the divorce had happened and Mia had found herself packing for California soon after and flat broke. A big university just wasn't in the budget anymore. While Mia had been upset about it in the beginning, she had long forgotten about it. She didn't want her mother feeling the guilt of a situation that was no longer relevant to Mia. "None of this is your fault."

"But I could have-"

"You did what was right for you and no one can blame you for that." Mia gave her mother the most comforting smile she could muster. She knew that Lucy blamed herself for the divorce even though it had never been her fault. The blame landed on their father when he decided to sleep with another woman. Mia didn't blame Lucy for wanting to get away from their father. She had learned that when a man messed up once, he was bound to mess up again. "It's been a rocky time for us all, but we'll get through it together."

If Mia needed a reason better than the sun to not become a vampire, it was this. Her mother needed her. She couldn't go abandoning Lucy after everything her father had put her through. It would devastate her to not only lose the man she had once loved dearly but her only daughter as well. Mia couldn't live an eternity with the guilt of leaving her mother at the time she needed Mia the most.

Lucy opened her mouth to reply, but their conversation was put to an end when Sam and Michael came back with the ice cream their mother had sent them after in hand. While Sam sat down beside their mother and pulled out one of his comic books to read, Michael collapsed down beside Mia.

"When did you get your ear pierced?" Mia squinted her eyes when she noticed the gold earring dangling from Michael's left ear. Didn't the boys all have their ears pierced as well? The thought of Michael looking more like them didn't sit particularly well in her stomach. Despite how much she fought, they were both still slowly, but surely being initiated. Now that Michael looked the part, all he had left to do was feed.

"I think the night I turned." Michael's forehead scrunched up as he tried to recall the answer.

"You think?"

How did someone forget when they got their ear pierced, especially if it had been done so recently? Mia had pierced her ears on multiple occasions, twice in each earlobe and then the cartilage of her left ear, and while she couldn't remember the exact time each had been done, she remembered getting them pierced.

"Well, I don't really remember much after I drank the…" His words trailed off, not willing to openly admit what it had been that he had drunk that night.

"What exactly happened to you that night?" Mia kept her voice low after a passing glance at their mother beside her. Lucy was too busy trying to coax Sam into a conversation to be concerned with the conversation Mia and Michael were having, but Mia still stood up and motioned for Michael to follow her. She didn't feel comfortable with risking Lucy or Sam accidentally hearing anything that the following conversation was to include.

"Well, they weren't really happy after you ran off and they made sure everyone was aware of it." Michael stopped for a second to take a bite of his ice cream before continuing. "I thought they were going to take Star and leave, they clearly had no big interest in me, but they asked me to meet them at Hudson's Bluff. I didn't want to leave you, but this burning desire to follow them so that I could be like them consumed me and I followed after. Several little mind tricks later and a couple drinks into David's blood, I found myself waking up from a daze in their cave. I remember a little of what happened in between those two moments, but it's all still hazy. I'm not sure if I want to remember though."

Mia nodded her head. Like Michael, Mia didn't remember much from the night she had drunk someone's blood-she still wasn't sure whose blood it was now-but what she did remember made her cringe in embarrassment. As much as her curiosity was killing her to fill in the blank spots in her memory, a part of her knew it would probably be better if she didn't remember a single thing from that night. Who knew what other cringe-worthy things she had done that night.

"Why didn't you come back home?"

"By the time I was awake enough to process what had happened, it was night. Star asked if I wanted to go to the boardwalk with her and Laddie and I was too thrilled at the idea of getting to hang out with Star without the guys around that I went with her willingly. Now that I look back at it though, I realize that it was all just a ploy to get to you."

"How'd you know what had happened to me?" Mia could feel the remaining anger towards her brother from that night slowly dissipating as she learned the truth from that night. He hadn't willingly stayed out, hadn't willingly caused Mia and their mother hell.

"Star had begun to explain what had happened while we were out at the boardwalk. She explained what I had drunk and what I had become. I didn't believe her until she showed me things that couldn't be explained any other way. When she accidentally mentioned that it had been a trick to get you alone with them, I raced back to the cave sure that I was going to find you hurt or dead. To my surprise, I found you not only alive but curled up tightly in between Marko and Dwayne on the couch fast asleep."

Her brother's words caused a blush to rise up her cheeks. "How'd I get home?" She didn't think she really wanted to know, but her curiosity was getting the better of her. She knew she would be embarrassed of her actions, but she decided it would be better to hear of them from her brother than from any of the other guys. If she had her way, she would never mention that night to any of them again.

"After a lot of arguing back and forth, I managed to convince them that you needed to get home or else they would be in for a rude awakening when you woke up."

Despite the situation, Mia found herself cracking a smile. She could only imagine the scene that she would have caused when she woke up in the cave and not back home in her bed. At least, she hoped that she would have been able to give them hell for not bringing her to Michael like she had asked. With the way their blood affected her topped with waking up curled in between two of them, Mia didn't know what she might have done. The thought sent her stomach swirling and another blush to appear.

"It was utter hell trying to get you up and out of there though. You were so drugged up on their blood that I think it would have been better to drag you out of there asleep rather than conscious. The guys were only making it worse by feeding your dazed, horny-"

"Michael!" Mia's face continued to redden at Michael's last statement. When she said she wanted to hear what had happened, she didn't mean she wanted all the cringey details of what had transpired while she was under the influence of their blood.

"You think this is bad? Try having to watch it." Michael's face scrunched up in disgust. "But I eventually got you on the back of my bike and then back in your bed without any further accidents."

"Thank you," Mia said sincerely, but she didn't think those words could cover how she felt. She knew that she would not be where she was now if it wasn't for Michael. As much as it terrified her to think about, she knew that she would have most likely made her first kill that night if it wasn't for Michael getting her out of there and back home. "I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you that day." And she meant it. Sure, she had a slight reason to be angry at Michael, but she felt that he had rectified it with getting her back home.

"Eh, I kind of deserved it."

"Count it even, then?"

"Alright, even."

"You know, as much as I hate to admit it, it was a good plan. A terribly, wicked plan, but smart," she sighed as they began their walk back to Lucy and Sam. She felt much lighter now that things were cleared up between Michael and her. "I just can't believe that I hadn't seen it coming. It seems so obvious now."

"Well, of course, it's obvious now. You barely knew anything about them then, let alone that they're vampires," Michael said in an attempt to make Mia not feel so gullible, but it ended up only making her mood suddenly drop.

"And I barely know anything about them now." Mia's smile suddenly dropped as Michael's words sent her mind wheeling. It hadn't struck her that she barely knew a thing about them until now and it didn't sit well in her stomach. How could she so willingly want to stay with them when she hardly knew anything about them besides their names? "What else do we know about them besides their names and the fact that they're vampires? How old are they? How long have they been vampires? What was their life like when they were human? How did they meet? Who was the first that turned? What else do they like to do besides finding ways to 'antagonize Mia'?...I'm serious Michael!" she yelled in annoyance when Michael cracked a smile at her last question. "We know next to nothing about them!"

"I know, I know," Michael raised his free hand in mock defense. "And I'm not excusing them in any way when I say this, but if they wanted to hurt us, they would have done it a long time ago."

Michael's words caught Mia off guard. She was silent for a while as she tried to digest what he had said. She knew what he said was true and because it was, it left an odd feeling down inside her. They should have killed her the night she was alone with them. They should have drained every drop of blood from her body, but they hadn't. Why hadn't they?

God, today was supposed to be making her feel better about her decision, not make her feel worse. It had been working too, until now. Now she wasn't sure what she wanted anymore.

"I'm going to find a way to reverse the transformation," she blurted out before she could stop herself. It felt good to say it, helped to partially release the tension that had continued to build up inside her over the past few days. While she had said it to let Michael in on her plan, she had also said it as a way for her to remind herself od what she was going to do. By saying the words out loud, it was as if she was reassuring herself of what needed to be done. Maybe she didn't know what she wanted, but she knew what was going to be done. She needed to remember that.

Michael was silent for what felt to be an impossibly long time. Unnerved by the silence, Mia began to feel like she had made a mistake by telling him. Perhaps she should have kept it to herself.

"Is that even possible?" Michael finally asked, partially relieving Mia's tense nerves.

"I don't know," Mia's voice was soft. She couldn't afford to think about her plan not being possible. If she did, she knew she would just give up on trying to fight and give in to the darkness. "I met some kids about Sammy's age our first night here, Edgar and Alan Frog. They proclaimed to be vampire hunters, but I thought they were crazy at the time. They told me they've gotten a majority of their information on the supernatural world from comic books and Sammy has a few they've given him. If there's a way to become human again, it's in those comics."

It took even longer for Michael to reply this time. Mia, although eager for a response, didn't try to pressure him into speaking and stayed quiet as she waited for Michael to process what she had just revealed to him. She knew it was a lot to take in. While Mia had never truly accepted the fact that she would become a vampire, she knew that trying to reverse the transformation had never crossed Michael's mind. Mia didn't know everything the boys had said or done to him, what lies and thoughts they had filled his head with, but Michael had seemed to accept his fate the moment it was laid out to him. Finding out that there could be a possible solution to the problem would be enough to make him question everything he had recently come to terms with.

"Mia, I would be all for it, but-"

Mia's mood dropped as quickly as it rose with Michael's response. "But what?" She interrupted before she could stop herself. What could Michael possibly have against not turning into a bloodsucking killer of the night? "What about our family, Michael? What about Mom and Sam? If we don't find a way to stop this, we'll lose them forever! Are you ready to abandon them? After all the shit we've all-"

"You don't think I realize that?" Michael pulled Mia to a stop, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "You think I've not thought about what this is costing me?" Mia's breath hitched as Michael grew increasingly agitated. "If I knew of a way to reverse the transformation, I would do it in a heartbeat. But then what? Do you really think they would just leave us alone after that? Me? Maybe. But not you, Mia. I don't know what it is about you, but they will never leave you alone. You turn back human and they won't just make you drink their blood again. No, they'll make sure you complete the transformation before you could even think about going back again."

Mia didn't know what to say when Michael finished speaking. Hell, she didn't even know what to think or even feel. His words had caught her off guard, but there was a truth in them that hurt terribly to come to terms with.

 _They will never leave you alone._

Michael was right, she had just been too blind to see it. She could try to run, but she would never be able to escape them. She could try to find a way to become human again, but they would only force their blood back down her throat. They would do it again and again, as many times as it took before Mia finally broke and crossed the point of no return. She was a complete fool for ever believing she could stop it from happening. There was absolutely nothing she could do. They had got her right where they wanted and she would never escape.

 **~TLB~**

" _Happy Birthday, Mia-Bia~"_

 _A shy smile appeared on Mia's face when two pairs of arms wrapped around her shoulders from each side. It had taken no more than a second for Mia to enter the house before she was bombarded by her friends. It was the Leslie twins though, Elizabeth and Crystal, who had found their way to her first and squeezed her tightly between them._

" _Or should I say, 'Happy Birthday, Stevie!" Elizabeth, or Lizzie as she preferred to be called, dragged out the name as she took in the costume that Mia had donned for the night. With the plunging neckline and cinched waist, the black dress she had worn accentuated Mia's curves even under the flowing fabric that made up the majority of the dress. "Damn girl, you look hot!" Lizzy added with a wild grin._

 _Mia had struggled this year on deciding on the perfect costume, but her mother had definitely come through when she had suggested Stevie Nicks. Mia wasn't the biggest fan of her music, but she had fallen in love with one of her mother's old dresses the moment she laid eyes on it. With the perfect black hat and a bit of teasing for her curls, Mia felt more confident than she had in ages._

" _Lizzie's right, Mia. You always come up with the perfect costume ideas," Crystal added from Mia's other side as they lead Mia further into the house._

 _The costume party for Mia and Michael's birthday had been a tradition for as long as Mia could remember. Being in the middle of April, their birthday was nowhere near Halloween, but since Halloween was their favorite holiday and one night of dressing up wasn't enough for them, they had created a sort of second Halloween to celebrate. It came complete with a strict 'costume only' dress code, more candy than anyone could manage to eat, and plenty of jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, and any other Halloween decorations they could scrounge together. For years, the party had been organized by Lucy, but it recent years the party had been taken over by friends. Mia never put up any complaint. She always looked forward to the party that seemed to get a little less kid-friendly each year._

" _Just wait until you see Nick. He looks h-o-double-t!" Lizzie's grip tightened considerably as she squealed over Mia's boyfriend. Instead of sharing in her excitement, Mia's mood and confidence swiftly dropped. Her fingers itched to pull at the low neckline but were unable to do so as they were currently occupied by her two friends. Nick was going to kill her for what she was wearing, she had been an idiot to think otherwise. She had just been so in awe of the dress that all warning flags had been pushed aside._

" _How did you get so lucky?" Lizzie continued, oblivious to Mia's sudden change in mood. "I would die to date someone that looked even half as good as him."_

" _I'll take her from here, girls." Two hands grabbed her from behind, one around her waist and the other around her eyes to hide her vision. She could hear Cyrstal and Lizzie both giggling as they let go of her and shuffled off elsewhere in the party. Even though Mia was currently blind, she could still see the playful winks and smiles the twins would have sent her way._

 _Mia reached to remove the hand from around her eyes as the other hand twirled her around. She quickly plastered a fake smile on her face for the man to see, but before she could get a look at him, his lips eagerly claimed her own. The kiss was rough and hungry, not at all like the gentle ones she used to crave so deeply. She could taste the alcohol on his mouth and it took all her strength to actually kiss the boy back and not pull away. Normal Nick was bad enough, drunk Nick was a nightmare waiting to happen._

" _Nick," she breathed softly as he finally pulled away from her and she was able to get a look at him for the first time. She didn't trust herself to say anything other than his name. Crystal had been right when she had said that Nick's costume was attractive. He had dressed as David Bowie and if Mia wasn't so frightened and disgusted with the boy in front of her, she would have swooned at the sight of him. Now, knowing the monster he truly was, she wondered how she had ever found him attractive. While she would have once sold the entire world for him, she now scrambled to do anything just to appease him and avoid his wrath._

" _Happy Birthday, darling," His voice was low and hoarse, full of lustful desires. His eyes instantly took notice of her low neckline and one of his cold fingers began to trace the bare skin between her breasts. She couldn't suppress the shiver that his action caused, partly at the cold touch, but mainly out of fear. "You certainly know how to grab a man's attention." His lips were curled into a smile, but the tightened grip on her waist spoke otherwise. She had fucked up and he wasn't happy about it. She knew that sooner, rather than later she would be paying for it. "Good thing they all know who you belong to."_

" _The only man that interests me is you, my love." Mia had wanted to rebuke his statement. She didn't belong to anyone, especially not to him, but she had learned long ago that it was better to keep silent on these matters. Instead, she fed him the honeyed words he wanted to hear and planted a chaste kiss on his lips to help keep his anger away. Now she just needed to keep it up for the next few hours._

 _It wasn't as difficult as she had thought. Nick seemed in relatively good spirits, despite the amount of alcohol that he was consuming. His hands were a bit touchier than usual, but Mia would gladly take his wandering hands over his angry fists any day. With a good-natured Nick, it was easier for her to play the dutiful and loving girlfriend. She began to believe that she might escape the night unscathed until she found him leading her upstairs and away from the party._

" _Where are we going, Nick?" Mia's voice trembled as she nervously took in her surroundings. Nick had graciously offered up his house for the party and she soon realized why as he dragged her towards his bedroom._

" _I just want to give you your present," he replied with a knowing smile on his face._

" _Why can't you give it to me later?" Mia struggled to pull Nick to a stop outside his bedroom door. She knew what his 'present' was and it made her whole body shiver in disgust. At one point she had gladly given her body to the man in front of her, but now she did everything in her power to avoid it. While she was successful on many occasions, there were a few where she had been forced to give in. While the act left her scarred, she kept telling herself that it was better than the physical pain. "It's been a long night and I'm tired, Nick."_

" _Tired?" Nick questioned as his hand painfully grabbed her wrist, his eyes darkened in anger at her words. He wasn't used to her defying him. She let out a low gasp of pain when he forcefully pulled her into her bedroom. "Don't tell me you're too tired when you're dressed like that!" Mia jumped as he slammed the door shut behind them and a fist came down hard beside her head. "You're practically begging men to come and take you!" His hand grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked down to force her to look him in the eyes._

 _Mia cried out in pain and quickly shook her head to deny his statement. She fought to keep the tears that prickled at the corner of her eyes at bay. It would only make matters worse. Nick hated when she cried. "That's not true. I-"_

 _Her words were interrupted when his lips forcefully landed on her own. While a part of her wanted to just give in, it would be less painful if she did, another part of her remembered what her brother had told her. She had to stop lying to herself that Nick was going to change, that she would get the old Nick back if she tried hard enough. The old Nick was never coming back. It was time for her to put her foot down and finally stand up for herself. She needed to stop letting him drag her through hell and then act like everything was okay. The old Nick might not be coming back, but she would be damned if she let him keep the old Mia from coming back as well: the Mia that didn't take shit from anyone and stood up for herself._

 _With sudden determination, her hands scratched at his face, at his hands, anywhere she could get a hold of. She was never going to let him advantage of her again. She was never going to let him hurt her again. But despite how much she fought, it did little to stop him. She wasn't strong enough to fight him off._

 _His hand left her hair and pulled at the sleeve of her dress, forcing it to fall down to her elbow and leave her left breast exposed. His hand reached up to grope her bare breast, making Mia realize that it was now or never. With a last ditch effort, she threw her leg up as hard as she could and kicked him in the groin._

 _The effect was instantaneous. His hands let go of her body as he grabbed his crotch in pain._

" _You bitch!" He screamed at her, but Mia found that she didn't care anymore._

" _We are done," she hissed at him as she pulled her dress back up to cover herself. "And if you ever try to touch me again, you'll have wished I had just kicked you in your balls again."_

 _And with that, she threw open the door and left him behind in his pain, praying that she would not come to regret her actions._

 **~TLB~**

Mia awoke with a start, her heart racing wildly as her mind replayed the events of that night. She had had many nightmares of past events before, but none so vivid as this one. Raw emotions that she had worked so hard at burying came flooding back as her mind replayed each event over in her mind. She had never had a dream that had felt as real as that one had. She could almost still feel his fingertips caressing her skin and the taste of his lips against-

"Woah, you okay, sunshine?"

Mia jumped at the familiar voice and when a hand landed on her shoulder, she frantically scrambled away as fast as she could. The only thought that crossed her mind was that Nick was here to punish her for what she had done to him. In her mad dash to get away, Mia didn't see the other body on the bed next to her and she tripped over them-causing loud cursing on their part-and landed awkwardly on the ground beside her bed.

"What the hell, Paul!" Another familiar voice complained from behind her at the same time as the first voice said, "Remind me to never do that again."

Upon processing the voices and the sweet scents surrounding her, Mia finally realized what was going on. It wasn't Nick that had entered her bedroom, but rather four annoying vampires.

"What are you doing in my room?" Mia slowly pulled herself into a sitting position on the ground, bringing her knees tightly against her chest. She took in each of the boys around her, too relieved at the fact that it wasn't Nick for her to muster much anger at the fact that the four boys had come into her room unannounced while she was sleeping or that she was only in a t-shirt and pair of underwear.

Paul was sitting up on the far side of her bed looking at her sheepishly, while Dwayne, the person she had tripped over, was rubbing an area of his chest that she was pretty sure her elbow had hit. Marko looked slightly concerned from where he stood next to the window and David eyed her with an unreadable expression on his face as he reclined in the chair in front of her vanity.

"I thought Michael told you I wasn't going out tonight." After their conversation at the beach, Mia had wanted nothing more than to lock herself in her bedroom and sleep forever. She vaguely remembered Michael telling her that he would make up an excuse for her to stay in for the night before she curled up on her bed and yearned for the blissful escape of sleep.

But as annoyed as she was at them sneaking into her room without her permission and clearly ignoring Michael, she found herself glad of their presence. Their smell was oddly soothing and she found herself wanting nothing more than to curl back up between Dwayne and Paul in her bed. She fought that desire, however, as she knew none of them would let her live it down if she did.

"He did." David shrugged his shoulders, his gaze never wavering from her form.

"Then why are you here?" Mia groaned. She tried to be agitated at them, but it was hard when they made her feel so at peace. Already, memories of her dream were fading from mind.

Mia didn't realize that she had moved until she found her head suddenly leaning against the pair of legs that dangled from the bed next to her. Her first instinct was to move, but when Dwayne's hand wound itself in her hair she found herself only leaning further into him. Her eyes fluttered closed in contentment. It was soothing and sent little tingles of pleasure running through her body. It was the exact opposite of how Nick's touch had felt in her dream.

"We're only keeping up our end of the deal," Marko replied. "You said we had to come find you each night, and, well, here we are." Mia opened up her eyes long enough to send him a sharp glare.

"Screw you," Mia managed to stumble out in between a yawn, a sudden wave of exhaustion washing over her.

Dwayne's hand left her hair as he bent over to pick her up and lay her in bed next to Paul and him. Mia offered no complaints but gladly intertwined herself in between the two boys.

Deep inside, she knew that they were playing one of their mind tricks on her, but she was too tired and comfortable to try and fight it at the moment. As she buried her head into Paul's chest, she vaguely told herself that she would just give them hell for it and for coming into her bedroom unannounced tomorrow night before letting sleep consume her once more.

* * *

 **A/N: Once again, I'm super sorry about the long update time. I didn't mean for it to take this long, but I guess life just kind of happens. I'm not super happy with this last little section of the chapter, but I promise that it'll make a bit more sense in future chapters.**

 **Like always, I want to once again thank each and every one of you for your continued support on this story. Each favorite, follow, and review really does mean a lot to me and I always get so excited when I check my email and see notifications from you guys. It literally makes my day every time. I didn't think I would ever make it this far into the story and I'll be honest that at some points during long breaks in updates that I didn't think I was ever going to pick it back up again, but then I would get such lovely reminders about it from you all that I found inspiration to keep going, so thank you for that.**

 **On a complete sidenote, however, one of the reasons why it took forever for this chapter to come out was because I went on a mission trip to Haiti about a month back. But something absolutely crazy happened that I really wanted to share with you all. When I was on one of the planes, there was a coke ad that showed up on the screen on the back of the seat in front of me. It was a picture of a girl and a guy, and I was like, "Hey, this girl reminds me of what Mia would like." She had that crazy, curly blonde hair and tan skin that I envision Mia having. But the wildest part is when I looked at the name on the coke bottle, it was Mia. I was literally sitting in my seat, smiling like a maniac at seeing this. Who would have thought, huh?**

 **Also, I'm planning on moving author's notes down to the bottom now, so I can ramble to you guys about certain parts of the chapter without giving anything away.**


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